My Allusive as hell poem

The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street


Rod Serling crooned “There are weapons
that are simply thoughts, attitudes,
prejudices to be found only in the minds of men.”
While his space invaders plotted,
“Their world is full of Maple Streets.
And we'll go from one to the other and
let them destroy themselves.”

It reminded you of Mavis,
the sweet old British woman
who lived next door since you were young.
When she came back from her much anticipated
Las Vegas trip covered in casts.
She got into an elevator and the man
inside beat and robbed her.
Mavis who’s first husband
Accidentally backed over
their youngest son in the driveway
when he ran after a ball.
Mavis who’s first husband drank
himself to death.

After that your family went to
Salem for Halloween.
You went to museums dedicated
To the burning and hanging
of people who’d done nothing
but make the unfortunate mistake of
being born.
You read the words,
“I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus!
I danced for the Devil; I saw him,
I wrote in his book.
I saw Sarah Good with the Devil!
I saw Goody Osborne with the Devil!“

You once wrote a paper attempting to discover why Germany’s poverty
made everyone hive minded
and turned them on the Jews.
Turned them on their neighbors.
You once read about Atticus Finch
Spending his night outside of a jailhouse
Pleasantly addressing the lynch mob
And explaining to Scout,“A mob’s always made up of people.”

So you sit under the stars each night
fearing the loss of common sense
Because the monsters all live on Maple Street
each behind a white picket fence.