"Suburban" by Michael Blumenthal

Conformity ¹ caught here, nobody catches it,

Lawns groomed in prose, with hardly a stutter.

Lloyd hits the ball, and Lorraine fetches it.

Mom hangs the laundry, Fred, Jr., watches it,

Shirts in the clichéd air, all aflutter.

Conformity caught here, nobody catches it.

A dog drops a bone, another dog snatches it.

I dreamed of this life once, Now I shudder

As Lloyd hits the ball and Lorraine fetches it.

A doldrum ² of leaky roofs, a roofer who patches it,

Lloyd prowls the streets, still clutching his putter.

Conformity caught here, nobody catches it.

The tediumed ³ rake, the retiree who matches it, 

The fall air gone dead with the pure drone of motors

While Lloyd hits the ball, and Lorraine just fetches it.

The door is ajar, then somebody latches it.

Through the hissing of barbecues poets mutter 

Of conformity caught here, where nobody catches it.

Lloyd hits the ball. And damned Lorraine fetches it.

Credit Line: From Against Romance by Michael Blumenthal, published by Viking Penguin, Inc. Copyright © 1987 by Michael Blumenthal. Used by permission of the author.

Use the See Hear, Feel Connection Questions handout to help students analyze this text.

• 1Conformity: a behavior that implies compliance, fitting in, or following a group.
• 2Doldrum: a state of inactivity, stagnation, depression.
• 3Tediumed: the past tense to "tedium," which is the state of being monotonous, dull, boring.