Elliott Kastner

I Kept Good Enough Company

The downstairs neighbor spoke in hints
of cigarette smoke.

The shared-wall neighbor shared his weed
through the bathroom vent.

Previous tenants sent coupons
and left a coin in the closet.

I made window-friends: a possum
in the north tree, sparrows
at the sill, and the red-car girl
who never invited me to anything.

I kept good enough company to stay
long enough to learn the names of neighbors
whose shouts insected through wall-cracks.

When my hair vined down my throat
I woke to Tanner’s slamming door.

Elliott Kastner is a student, currently living in a small farmhouse in Perkins, OK and pursuing an MFA. He received his BA in creative writing from Missouri State University. His work often pulls from his immediate surroundings: a dirty apartment, highways,the pasture outside his window. He hopes, once he gets this degree, to spend some time overseas unlearning a lot of attitudes he’s picked up as a landlocked Midwesterner.