by Jeremy Wayne Couch
The Doctor hears them again that night,
his neighbors' hateful voices
raised in a fight.
"I'll teach you not to be so proud!"
he hears the mother yell.
Then he hears the son cry outloud, "Go to Hell!
I'll tell them that you beat me,
and they'll throw you in jail!"
"Why you little liar!" the father yells
and then he hears the son's screams
rising higher and higher,
but he just puts his head under his pillow.
He doesn't make a move.
He doesn't ask his wife what to do,
because he already knows she would say,
"Honey, you must learn.
This is none of our business.
It's none of our concern."
He goes to the bathroom to take a piss
and asks the porcelain god,
"What kind of world is this?
We don't interfere.
We don't go near.
We stay over here
behind our fences."