Neighbors by Alan Basting

Last week they discovered spots

on his liver and lung. This week

he's out working his garden plot

clomping back and forth behind

his old tiller's Briggs & Stratton,

grinding its way through heavy, wet soil.

Hard work, friend. Especially when

your weight's dropped under 140.

After nearly 60 years of Marlboro's,

he tells me he's going to quit:

“Uh huh,” I say, “Of course,” words

trailing off over fresh-dug earth...so

I say, “What for?” And we both begin

laughing, sensing the Dark One's already

started his own Briggs & Stratton.

“And dammit,” he says, “I just finished

paying for these teeth.” Then raising both

hands and hooking air with his fingers

he grins, “and a brand new smile.”

Alan Basting earned an M.A. in English/Creative Writing at Colorado State University and a M.F.A. from Bowling Green State University. His chapbooks include Singing from the Abdomen, Stone-Marrow Press; What the Barns Breathe, Windows Press; Suddenly, Herons, The Writers’ Cooperative of Toledo; and Deep Time, Daily Habits and Events, from The Arts Commission of Toledo, Ohio. Nothing Very Sudden Happens Here was published by Lynx House Press, Spokane, WA, in late 2013. His most recent collection, Home and Away (2019), is available from Finishing Line Press, Georgetown, KY. Visit www.alanbastingpoetry.com to view selections from his work. He lives in the middle of the Manistee National Forest near the village of Bitely, MI. His website is: alanbastingpoetry.com.