getting ready

i see the neighbors

hammering

nails into boards to cover

up their windows.

loading their

guns with ammo.

unleashing

dogs in the yard.

electric fences and barbed

wire

going up.

search lights.

i see them carrying in

canned goods and water

by the truckload.

i ask them what's up,

as i lick

a cone of rocky road on

my front stoop.

we're getting ready, they

tell me.

ready for what's next.