this house is kept warm
except around the edges
of rattle drawn windows
and loosely hinged doors
a beautiful woman
who in secret hates her husband
sleeps peacefully alone
on the bedroom floor
this house is well lit
except in the closets
where cobwebs have grown thick
behind tightly closed doors
this house is kept clean
and the books are stacked neatly
and cockroaches crawl through
the cereal boxes at night
while I sleep
"Almost everything Crocker writes about sounds like it happened to you, in the same way it happened to him. It's the petty little irritating stuff that rusts out the hull of your spirit...there is a certain universal "heartland" feeling about his work...a kind of primitive, essential humanness that we all participate in regardless of all the outer layers we wear that usually conceal it." -- Hugh Fox, Small Press Review
"I really love the poem, 'Sorry, Richie' I think it's an American Classic - no shit!" -- ML Liebler, Former Director of the YMCA National Writer's Voice Project
"Comes right from thehuman spirit." -- Kell Robertson, Author of A Horse Called Desperation
