Lines in the Sand: Atlanta Edition

Sometimes people live too close to one another

their smelly lines overlapping lives

psyches stepping on toes

& problems bleeding in through doors & windows.

Neighbors crying, remonstrating, manipulating, and copulating

demonstrating the need for soundproofing or renovating

yet we wave the next day our smiles ingratiating

because at their expense our needs we’ve been satiating

and the building goes on.

Some stress “urban sprawl” others cry “urban blight.”

Developers rub hands with piggish delight.

Smart animals follow the birds taking flight

while poor confused deer become targets at night.

Yet the building goes on.

Big boxes, small boxes, strip malls and stores,

McDonald’s, & Wendy’s, & Bed Bath and More,

Family Dollars, and State Liquor Stores

Pawn Shops and Nail Shops and . . .

perhaps

when the trees are all gone and desertification is “the new black”

we will draw our lines in the sand.