020518   020521

In the lower neighborhood of narrow houses and smaller lawns
a large whiteboard is nailed to a front-yard tree
the handwriting reads variously week to week
‘Justice to others begins within yourself’
‘If others don’t invite you to participate invite yourself’
it’s a mom in a bathrobe writing out cliches for passersby
it’s a dad inspired after evening devotions with his kids
in a newer community further up the hill
homes three times the size are serviced by landscaping trucks
they lack flowers bushes shrubs and
wisdom from a tree.