All my neighbors are disappearing

The blonde lady around the corner, the one who used to always smoke

And the one next door, the door with the Wiccan symbol on it 

He was always so kind 

Always told jokes 

I remember one time he helped shovel out an old lady’s car that got stuck in the snow 

And then there was Joe 

He lived on the corner and was quite fond of my old friend

He told her she could come by anytime 

We left, nodding our heads and gigglin’

My friend is now gone too

Being in this neighborhood feels like a crime

I tried to relocate 

I hiked the woods 

There were no snakes

Is this how it felt for Sue, my other next door neighbor

Whose husband died 

They’d lived in that house since ‘52  

She disappeared too 

Maybe her daughter thought some other place was greater 

And it’s been forever since I’ve seen the grandson Taylor 

The new ones and those left behind don’t talk 

At least the birds still bawk

One night I went past the Wiccan door – it was open

Cigarette smoke reeked 

The widow was inside and there were snakes on the floor 

I took a peek

A hearse drove by 

The driver looked like Joe

Sue was in the passenger seat 

The horn gave a beep 

It started to snow 

I started to run 

At the end of the street was someone 

My old friend 

She yelled to me, “Come!”

I ran harder 

That hearse swiveled around and started chasing me 

I sprinted past all the houses 

They seemed to morph into tombstones

I finally reached my friend and was no longer alone

Somehow we were out of bounds 

I still felt fear

Me and my friend just kept running

Till we disappeared