Thirteenth Century, northern Europe.
Teutonic knights ride north, kill or remove Prussians from their land.
A ripple widens from Catholic demand: knights to castle to village.
And tongues are ripped from mothers.

Nineteenth Century, North America.
William Warren writes history, exposes foreign fantasy.
He is Anishanabeg, metis. He links the Ojibwes to the Algics
- lost tribe of Hebrews, migrant mothers of Gentiles.

Present day, planet Earth.
Needles race the double helix; blood again spills.
Invaders merge interest through bloodlines as blood denies blood.
Privilege protects power, but mothers protect children.

Always, everywhere.
Soil breaks; mothers birth; man forges death as salvation.
Despite deception, people are,
and blood beats history as presence.

Latin sub urbe to suburbium
Old French suburbe
Middle English suburb
derived from urban
unwalled
unfarmed
integument
supplementary to life
until clusters of church and castle
fortified inhabitants from
barbarism
spoken about sinners
like loose women
or likened to
small minds and bad manners
upgraded to middle class
when factories bloomed
and masses transited
onto metropolis
who grew and threw
people distantly to a place without
rural discipline or urban culture
increasingly pejorative
this underbelly of urbane
indistinctly shaped by
neurotic housewives
returns to the city
center regeneration
where huburbanite
derives from suburban

mosquitoes battle citronella candles
on land once speculated
now sold as real estate
as if land ever was
dice or unreal

monthlies are manicures
for Fifi and philodendrons
landlords leash tenants
and bag moist sums

families are singled out
vigilantly admitted
as neighborhoods watch
lawn ornaments and
silently ordain nights

shopping strips are wrapped
for deep freeze
as pests tax property
and zone sordid acres

white fences are picketed
and gates aspire to Stepford
step behind
before ahead
left behind right

SmileSign Welcome flags model homes.
Ikea styles woods.
Lawns sign smiley faces.
Neighbors bed in kind.

But what kind of community
hides behind fences
when awake?