Neighborly by Martha Rhodes

We invited them over, from their fields to ours.
To join us naked and playful, to give them
Hope. To watch us joyfully trample our own lands—
And witness the greening anew overnight.
Our fields. Paid for, no mortgages—
To join us in and outside of our tents of celebration,
And share our jungles and waterfalls.

But when we woke, nothing.
Even the tents while we slumbered
gone. Our dogs. Our shoes.

Martha Rhodes is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently “The Thin Wall” from University of Pittsburgh Press. She is a member of the faculties of Sarah Lawrence College and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. She is the director of Four Way Books.