Neighborhood Watch
At the end of our block
a Neighborhood Watch sign
streaked with dark stains
from unforgiving weather
stands on a rusty post.
And although it looks like
it’s been there for decades,
I can’t recall having ever seen it.
I’m waiting for the bus to New York
so I’ve got time,
whip out my phone to Google
“PlainfieldWatch.org.”
Only three active
groups: Hillside, Sleepy Hollow, Van Wyck–
figures, they the ones got bank.
Nothing round here,
ain’t nobody
takin the call.
A beat-up gray Dodge Neon
hooks a left off Front
parks at the curb.
The driver spits out the window
flicks cigarette ashes onto the street
her long fingernails painted red
curls of smoke escape
disappear.
Our block dead-ends at Green Brook
No Thru Traffic.
And she doesn’t live here.
Slow Children at Play.
She waits
at the bus stop
on the corner of Watchung and Fifth,
hands clutching
the strap
of her oversized duffel bag.
I’m waiting here
too
on a stone bench
for the #59 home
from school.
I hustle to try to get here before
the others
ain’t tryin to get caught up
wit them on the sidewalk
not after last time.
Pigeons peck the edge
of the lawn
at City Hall
as the #65 to Broad
rounds the corner,
rusty tire rim
scraping the curb.
Road dust and fine gravel
got the other school kids up in arms
I watch an ant at my feet
struggle
with a crumb.
The bus halts,
brakes squeal,
delivers
an old black man
in canvas cover-alls
through its open doors.
He holds a brown
paper lunch bag,
his shoulders droop.
He looks at the girl
offers her
a nod
tips his cap.
She looks the other way
opens
her umbrella to early rain,
cracks
a wad of gum.
I try to wave
fingers flutter
ghost moths
circling a cracked street light.
I don’t know who’s watching,
so I hug
my bookbag.
Dirty exhaust smoke
billows
from the bus
departing.
About Christine Taylor
Christine Taylor, a multiracial English teacher and librarian, resides in her hometown Plainfield, New Jersey. She serves as a reader and contributing editor at OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters. Her work appears in Modern Haiku, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, The Rumpus, Eclectica, and The Paterson Literary Review among others. She can be found at www.christinetayloronline.com