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We all know that the manner in which people behave toward one another can tell us a lot about their private lives. In this amusing poem by David Allan Evans, poet laureate of South Dakota, we learn something about a marriage by being shown a couple as they take on an ordinary household task.

- Ted Kooser, U.S. poet laureate

Neighbors

They live alone

together,

she with her wide hind

and bird face,

he with his hung belly

and crewcut.

They never talk

but keep busy.

Today they are

washing windows

(each window together)

she on the inside,

he on the outside.

He squirts Windex

at her face,

she squirts Windex

at his face.

Now they are waving

to each other

with rags,

not smiling.

Reprinted from "Train Windows," Ohio University Press, 1976, by permission of the author.

The American Life in Poetry series will feature a contemporary American poem each week during April, which is National Poetry Month. The project is supported by The Poetry Foundation, the Library of Congress and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

The Poetry Foundation

Library of Congress

University of Nebraska

at Lincoln

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