You Live in a Very Small House

You live in a very small house

On a street

That’s getting busier

You moved in when the baby was coming

And you’ve been here ever since

And now the baby’s got a baby coming

You need a new roof

And new paint on the walls

And a carpet for the living room

You decided not to put the pool in this year

Because it’s supposed to rain all summer anyway

And that other stuff is more important

Parades go by in front of your house

And at night, you can sit on the porch

And wonder about the neighbors

When it’s winter, the snow comes right up

To the front door

Like a stray looking for food

When it’s spring, you get flowers you never planted

And the ones you did plant

Never come up

You face disappointment, great and small

Years later, you remember trivial instances

With a golden frame

You get insomnia some nights

And look out the window at the broken pavement

Thinking maybe you should have tried living in the city

What if you feel like pizza at 3am?

What if you need a little noise to sleep?

What if you made a mistake?

You think about people in bigger houses

And wonder if that would make you any happier

I mean, you’re pretty happy right now, aren’t you?

You’re not sick

Nobody you know is sick

The house is yours—paid in full

The car works

The kids aren’t on drugs

The guy’s coming to see about the roof on Thursday

Meanwhile on the street

Patches of nothing

Become overnight retail

They’re putting in a Domino’s a block from you

And another CVS, and the third Walgreen’s in two miles

Plus a yogurt shop and a consignment store

You didn’t go to the city

So the city’s coming to you

Maybe it’s time for a move

But you like the sounds of the high school nearby

Every fall, you curse the increased traffic

Secretly, you like seeing the parents dropping off their kids

You like walking the dog

Down the same blocks

To the same fire hydrants

You like knowing what you’ll see when you wake up

And when you go to bed

And what’s waiting for you after work

You like the way time rolls here

Over and over

Hitting the same bumps, gliding down the same dips

You live in a very small house

On a street

That’s getting busier

And at night, when you can’t sleep

You get to thinking

About all the other houses

And all the other people you know

And don’t know

And never will know

And you think about all the living you’ve done

In this very small house

And you’re sort of amazed at it

That such a small place

Could contain

So much life

A car goes by

And then another

And then nothing

And then nothing but quiet

For a very long

Time