American Dream Scene Poem by Stephanie Eve Kane Arado

Gazing out on a moon drenched landscape
Breeze blowing lightly in silent after midnight air
Neighbors up late hours now inside triangular houses
Built soon after the war jutting sharply into the blue black sky
Calm has settled on a rugged suburban street
Suggesting a common need for sleep
Visually a canvas of small-town America
Occupied by flag waving, motorcycle riding, two car owning
Consumers who have tugged their way to fast food chains
Demanding service, attention, someone to take direction
Pulling out extra napkins and loading up the macaroni
For the three to five children living in small boxy rooms
Tension rises when unemployment checks run low
Some section 8 folks also live in these homes
Blaming mother, father and especially the man
For their plight as low income house dwellers in
A less than idyllic suburban land
Yet as the soft summer wind wafts quietly
Silence settles the spiked edges and peeling paint
Even cats have ceased conquests and snooze by fences
And the neighborhood now fast asleep is united and looks like
A picturesque scene entitled American Dream.