Some may live just a block away,
even nearer: the Walmart clerk
who’d coolly hook a hot wire
to your gonads, the grease monkey
keen on beheading, the cleaning lady
who’d fill her pail with eyeballs.
And there’s the ousted Scoutmaster
who’d corral the kids, the engineer
who’d craft a more cost-effective
abattoir for undesirables, the MBA
who’d plot the sweeping purges
and drive the schedule full tilt.
Add to them, the rubberneckers,
who’d only want a decent view—
and those, like most, who’d say
the acrid smoke billowing from
that odd new building’s chimney
is simply none of their affair.