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M.
A. Schaffner
reads
Primed for Development
in Real Audio
format.
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The old houses have squirrels in their brains
and raccoons beneath their tired verandas.
In storms they creak like the rusted chains
that bear the weight of a weathered porch swing.
On sunny days they exude the aromas
of possum dung and archaic plumbing.
And yet they’ve outgrown five generations
of goblins hiding under children’s beds,
and survived four fitful rehabilitations
while rats retired beneath their garden sheds.
Now, plywood shutters make their parlors seem
like hospices of a neighborly dream
from which we wake as new homes fill their space
like joggers running anxiously in place.
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