Brief Landing on the Earth's Surface

In April

In April The retarded couple in the house next door is having a fight. It's finally spring, the windows are open, and from the porch I can hear them ovec the noise ofa radio and the sound ofa baby crying. I can't tell what they're saying but I hear the histrionic climb oftheir voices and [he way they're locked in anger. I sit on the porch, smoking and listening. There are two measly crocuses that have come up next to the sidewalk. They've rooted through me mud and mashed-down grass but they're bardy d istinguishable from the ground itself, they're so small and ragged. Now I hear thumping and banging, and the sound ofthings being thrown. Her voice is eerie. out-of-control; she's really wailing. He stomps from the house in an exaggerated huff. He's got an old piece ofcloth in his hand, a rag or torn blanket, and as he walks he slaps it against the ground. His corduroys have slip~d down past his waiSt, past the dump ofwhite fiesh his T-shirt doesn't cover. He goes as far as the street and stands mere, slapping the rag at a torn flyer that's been taped to the telephone pole. working it loose. 15 Now (hescreen door slams and she comes after him, crying. large in anklets and heavy shoes, her red hair greasy and plastered with barrenes. She lunges toward him and begins pummelling his back umil he rums around, his arms loose. the muddy whip hanging limp at hisside. Helooks lost and scared, and then, maybe because they're here. outside, everything shifts, and he starts crying. too. They're on the ground now; she's straddling him. They've got their arms around each other, crying and rocking and blubbering. They don't care that J'm barely six yards away. or mat orner neighbors, (00, have stopped (0 watch. that we're alla part ofit: his head mashed against her chest. his stubby fingers spread and moving on her wide haunch as ifriveted to the one thing not yet lost. ...