As sneakers do on pavement, boys’
voices scoff but leave no marks.
Their heads bob around one girl
in particular, her boldness bundled
against fragile early autumn cold.
One boy leaps
ahead
the way
they have to when they don’t know
what to do. Another girl trails
a half-step back. She turns her head
to look at me, I’ve no idea why:
I’m simply walking my dog
in my neighborhood after dark.
The girl glances back at me again
as I keep a wary adult distance, letting
my dog sniff at the intermittent
tear-downs among a gentry rhythm
of houses already renovated,
rooflines tweaked, cantilevers like
busts newly lifted, windows clean
and clear.
A mother I know says
men buy sports cars in middle age
and women work with architects
huddled over schematics, plans
to aggrandize their space. I keep
The dog from chasing rabbits.
Not a single boy wants to look bad
in front of the cool girl, her command
holding theirs in check, the one boy
breaking away again and returning
to the transitory pleasures of her
face. They’d do anything to prove
their bravery—break a window,
betray a friend, travel leagues on
foreign seas should she ask, waiting
on her like dogs barking to be
reckoned next as if they’d never
turn on her the second her powers
dimmed, the moment their mothers
whispered she was used goods.
Helen knew they tore them down
before building them back up, moving
the plumbing, bumping out another
wall—each occupant wants to leave
a mark upon the structure, the site.
Male voices all low flats, the down-
weather note, a hint of derogation
beneath their praise and hopes.
Finally, that one girl no longer looks
back at me, suspicious, me an aging
Cassandra without second sight
to predict their future as they walk
toward the pedestrian crossing into
the city’s lights and entertainment,
the newest Helen in command,
her edifice unblemished, picket fence
in place, sod unrolled and evenly
cut, a “for sale” sign planted
in front to lure the buyers in.
Helen of Troy in the Suburbs
Jeneva Stone is a poet, essayist and advocate. She is the author of Monster (Phoenicia Publishing, 2016), a mixed-genre meditation on caregiving, disability & medicine. Her essays and poems have appeared widely in literary journals. She is the recipient of fellowships from MacDowell (2012), Millay Arts (2012), and Grub Street Center (2020). Jeneva volunteers for health care and disability rights groups, including Little Lobbyists, a family-led organization advocating for health care of children with complex medical needs and disabilities, and the Montgomery County Maryland Commission on People with Disabilities. Website: jenevastone.com.