Kathleen Shaw

STRANGER

My neighbor looks like he's disguised
with phony beard and beady eyes.
Each night he sits and rocks for miles
and never even talk or smiles.
Each morning 'till he drives away
I find it hard to start my day.
Then he returns at six each night
and holds his briefcase much too tight.
What's in that case—a gun? A bomb?
It's awfully hard to keep my calm.
I need to know from where he came.
I need to learn his job, his name.
Is he a crook, a cop, a spy?
I have to know the reason why
my life revolves around this guy.


Clare Toohey reads "Stranger":



Subscribe to Channel Five-Two for first view of new videos.


Kathleen confesses: "Despite the rarity of crime in my neighborhood, many neighbors are paranoid about crime, which leads me to ask: Who is stranger—someone who looks suspicious or someone or obsesses about danger that doesn't exist?"


After teaching English for twenty-five years, KATHLEEN SHAW finally has time to travel with her husband, play with her grandchildren, read what she wants, write poems and plays, and take art classes.