Vacant Houses

The vacant houses remain in

Neighborhoods throughout

The county, but in the east

End and richer places they

Become fewer and fewer.

The main congestion is

In the west end in where

Prosperity never seemed to

Take hold. Not that it wasn’t

Welcomed and wanted, I suppose.

Some of them have been

Abandoned for a decade or

More, but there are only so

Many funds to tear them

Down. Most of them

Have been ransacked.

When I look inside,

There are papers scattered

All over the floor and the

Plaster or drywall is full of

Holes and colored with

Graffiti that sings cautionary

Tales about the depths of

Drug abuse. Of course, some

Of the scribbles are the tags

Left by the city’s community

Of taggers who like to wander

Into vacant houses. I assume that

Is for practice, as it is only

Seen by the addicts, code enforcement,

And the boarding crews.

Most of the houses are boarded

Already. We just go to create

The work order to have the board

Nailed up again, like another

Failing messiah who isn’t going

To save that house or any other.

Sometimes a new board is needed

As the old one has turned to a

Sponge. These houses are always

Trashed. In addition to the graffiti

And teenage vandals, it is a den

For those with nowhere else to

Go. It is an easy place for

Prostitutes and it is common

To see used condoms and

Soiled underwear when you peek

In the door – or a gorier offering.

There are others though. There are

The ones where someone died

And the heir locked the door. They

Stayed vacant for years. Now the door

Has been kicked open, and there

Is some degree of pilferage.

But the house remains. There

Are pictures on the wall or

A magazine in the doorway

That is from presidents ago.

Something about it seems so

Still and so hallowed. It should

Almost be kept sacred against

Vacant memories of dead days.

It reminds you that it was

Someone’s home at some

Place in the past. Someone

Lived here. They probably died

There too, but there were family

Dinners and family lessons and all

The other stuff that goes with it.

It stops being a vacant structure

And becomes a corpse that hasn’t

Had a proper burial.

One could wander the empty

Rooms and forgotten furniture

Looking for a place where a long

Diseased memory was left behind.

 (Originally published in Nixes Matte Review)