We brought my daughter home to a noisy four plex next to the railroad tracks.
She made me appreciate our home.
I thought living by the railroad tracks was awful,
the train would go by and shake our whole house.
I needed my little girl to teach me that it was awesome
“The train, daddy!” she’d hollar
And we’d rush to the porch in our pajamas
And watch the trains go by
She’d call out the name of each car
Both the descriptive name,
Hopper, engine, boxcar
But also their proper first names
Thomas, Spencer, Percy
We went from living next to the track
To having train front property
From there we moved to a duplex
Next to two freeways, and a busy street
With a big hospital
The train noise replaced
By the constant presence of helicopters
Police and ambulance sirens
Cruisin’ Impala’s with booming sound systems
And within this cacophony she found music
And she’d add her voice
The neighbors coming to know her as
The kid who sings
We continued our pattern
finally moving to a home of our own
A one plex
According to our postal address we were still in the city
But we were off the numbered and alphabetized grid
Only one numbered street reached out to us
Like a tentacle from the noisy city center keeping us connected
And it was quiet
my first night in my new bedroom
I heard the crickets
I delighted to realize
I’d final gotten my little girl to a place peaceful enough
For her to hear nature’s nocturnal symphony of chirps
And as I smiled to myself,
I heard her yell from her room
“SHUT UP, CRICKETS!”
