Richie of rightdowntheblock

Wanna give me the job
he laughs at me
trying to scale mountains of ice
with my plastic toothpick

i told him my pockets
are far less fat
than I appear

he tells me
he'll come help anyway.

richie of
rightdowntheblock
rains righteous ruptures 'pon
sheets a snow with his surefire shovel,

i trade solitude for partnership,
and the ice cowers and flees,
it would rather melt

than face the wrath of
Richie from rightdowntheblock
didn't want nothin for his time,

only to invite me
to spring cookouts
of roast chicken and fish

and i think of the blocks
i've lived on the last ten years,
and am hardpressed
to find a neighbor as
neighborly as
Richie

who spent an hour of his life
with a total stranger,
beating a three foot mound of ice
into submission
with his old shovel
and a smile on his face.