God of Neighbors, and Sex by Esther Cohen

God of Neighbors, and Sex

by Esther Cohen

DEAR GOD

Of neighbors

Who fall in love with one another

There’s something sexy

In a high school way

About neighbors. Maybe

That’s why I’ve heard

This story l,000 times.

Martha told it today.

When we were all

In the post office.

Famous artist man

With a wife and five sons

Every single son

A drummer

Not even one

Bass guitarist

He fell in love

With his directly across the street

Neighbor

Married choreographer

Two children of her own

They ran away they are

Actually both

Real marathon runners

They ran away

To another small town

Just three miles away

From here. Will they

Each fall in love

With their neighbors again?

This poem is on Esther Cohen's Substack called Overheard, which you can get to by clicking here. To read about Esther Cohen's recent experience as a the Poet Laureate of Greene County, NY, which was then taken from her, click here. (Side Note: there is one other current Poet Laureate story that has become embroiled in Trumpian politics. That is in South Carolina and you can read about that here. Other issues with poet laureates have happened for a long time at all levels.)

I love the tone of this poem, the I-can-hardly-believe-it stance of the speaker who is not judging anyone involved; her tone is purely that of "wow." She admits straight away that she has heard stories of neighbors getting romantically involved many times, and that she thinks

There’s something sexy

In a high school way

which is such a wonderful description. This particular story comes from Martha when she and the speaker are at the post office--this continues the sense that this is a neighborhood story, and could have taken place in almost any neighborhood anywhere.

We are told information about each person in this romance; they are, unfortunately, married to other people. Their jobs and number of kids are provided, as well as the very funny commentary about the man's 5 sons. I do not think the lighthearted tone is meant to be mean or apathetic to the pain created in the spouses or the kids. These people are not close friends and may not even be in the speaker's neighborhood, known to her. This type of neighborhood story is like celebrity gossip--we feel bad but we are very far removed. We most likely all know people who left someone for another and understand that these things can and do happen to very nice people.

The speaker even catches herself in her telling. The couple "ran away together," which is a common idiom. She then points out the two people were actually runners, as if just realizing that herself. This adds to the conversational tone, which matches the content perfectly.

I love that they moved just 3 miles away. It makes sense--jobs, kids to share custody with, friends, professional contacts, etc.--but it also does seem like "running away together" would mean leaving the area. The speaker ends the poem with a question (and you know I love poems with questions, especially unanaswered ones!): is this going to happen again with this couple in their new neighborhood?