August 18, 2005 3:15 Experiment Poem: this place

3:15am aug 18 2005 Ventura CA

more fog tonight
deep thick cold
a blanket dampening all sounds

walking through the house
in the dark in the night
naked
the full moon should be
casting shadows in every room
instead there’s an odd glow
slightly orange from the street lamps

there is still so much to do
the floor under my feet
getting rid of the ugly the hideous
the broken the old
these steep steps

but the question hangs in the fog–
do we keep pouring our evenings our weekends
our savings our paychecks
into this house when
someone could make us an offer
$850,000 and bulldoze the place

each year I’ve owned it
this place has increased
in value by $100,000
there isn’t much else out there for $500,000 and there’s
nothing out there like this
nestled in the barranca
half mile from the beach

each year painting repairing
and for two years remodeling
after six years of drama
how could I leave and let it be
torn down replaced by condos
3/4 of a million dollars is
more than seductive
in can be down right convincing

with that much money
we could go practicaly anywhere and get
something we’d like and no
longer deal with the
questions, hassles of this place

but I will miss strolling
through the house knowing
where the moon will be
shining through if the
fog wasn’t confusing matters

c. Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator

When I was looking through my poems to find one to post for today’s Poetry Train, I found this one from the 3:15 Experiment in 2005 when home prices were still soaring and interest rates were still low. Now my house is back to what it was worth in 2003.

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