The People Who Lived Here Before Us

the people who lived here before us
home-schooled their snotty-nosed children
who were not vaccinated.
they carried the whooping cough to
all their friends, who resisted
while happily eating chocolate truffles
and potato chips, while the children who
lived here before ate carob coated ginger
for their sore throats.
their names were Hawk and Canary,
their father nailed boards over the upstairs windows
so they could never fly away while he
was writing surrealistic novels that
 would never sell.