Richard David Houff
The Death of a Neighbor
I will remember you
by the gifts of books and conversation:
When the clock chimed
on the other side of midday
And the shrubs released
their leftover dead to greet the new
When the book you were reading
fell gently to rest in your lap
And I whispered your name
as friend
Richard David Houff edited Heeltap Magazine and Pariah Press Books from 1986 to 2010. He is also a music journalist that’s comfortable in writing both poetry and prose. His work has been published in Academic and Arts Review, Brooklyn Review, Chiron Review, Louisiana Review, Midwest Quarterly, Nixes Mate Review, North American Review, Rattle, and many other fine magazines. His most recent collections are Night Watch and Other Hometown Favorites, from Black Cat Moon Press, The Wonderful Farm and Other Gone Poems, from Flutter Press, and Adventures In Space and Other Selected Casualties, from Alien Buddha Press.