You know what bad neighbours are like;
they smile and wave
– pretending to be your friends –
then talk behind your back,
file anonymous complaints
when you’re three days late mowing your lawn.
Not in our city.
49 gang-related shootings in one year
and no one snitched.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
