a note and everything

he quit everything last night
this neighbor i didn’t know
him at all saw him once
for the first time last week
hunched and fat heard he paid
his rent in crisp twenties
used to work at the bakery
downtown quit or got fired
who knows something he had
with him i saw a blonde girl
friend in that house shut up
inside every day i saw her
often in passing off to work
maybe but him just the once
walking slowly along the dock
and then her sitting there
in the morning on the lawn
crying as cop cars flashed
their lights uselessly.