Jerry Durick- A Poem

           Welfare Check

 

Perhaps, it was the dogs barking, or for once the dogs not barking, or merely,

The absence of the any life over there, coming or going at any hour, or

Perhaps it was just curiosity that got the neighbors to finally call the police

To do a “welfare check” over there, where that strange woman lived, moved

In a couple of years back, alone, kept to herself, she wasn’t someone they knew

Living in an area where everyone knew everyone, went to school together,

Fought with, slept with, drank with, worked alongside at some point, were related

The way folks who stay in one place for generations end up related, but she wasn’t

One of them, didn’t seem to have family or friends visit, fact was no one had seen

Her in a long time, but she had to be there, so they called and the police arrived,

For once not for one of them, and the neighbors gathered, full of things to tell about

The “strange one,” quiet, kept to herself, didn’t look well, someone said, and now

They hadn’t seen her for some time, couldn’t quite recall when, her doors locked,

Curtains closed, the police took charge, knocked, called out, no one was certain of

Her name, so the cop called her ma’am and shook the door handle, no answer, no

Answer, and after they broke open the door they found her, been dead for weeks

The coroner said, that closed in smell, the corpse, the hum of flies, so much dirt,

Dust, a sink full of dishes, an unflushed toilet, her few sad possessions, they finally

Got to know her, her story became their story to tell and they will now for a while.