Typewriter Rodeo: Waving At Neighbors

Each week, the Standard reaches out to Austin’s Typewriter Rodeo for a custom poem on Texas topics.

By Sean PetrieJune 19, 2020 10:00 am,

There’s unrest. There’s fear. There’s frustration. And there’s still a lot of “normal” life that just isn’t happening right now. But what we can do is go outside, maybe take a walk, and share a friendly gesture. That was the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.

Waving At Neighbors

Go out

Take a walk!

See the neighborhood

Like you never did

Speeding to and fro before

Because staying at home

Doesn’t mean just the literal

House

It also means walks

Around the block

It means chats from the porch

It means waving

At the person across the street

Neighbor?

Stranger?

Before now, perhaps.

Both were the same.

But now, go out!

Turn down the street

You always passed

See the tiny gardens

The sidewalk chalk art

Chairs planted in yards

And as that person coming your direction

Switches from sidewalk to street

You know they’re doing it

Not to avoid you

But because they care

Because we are all neighbors

Now.

 

Produced by Laura Rice.

If you found the reporting above valuable, please consider making a donation to support it here. Your gift helps pay for everything you find on texasstandard.org and KUT.org. Thanks for donating today.