"The Landlord" recounts an argument between a tenant and a landlord, which ends when the landlord calls the police on the tenant, causing him to be arrested and sent to jail. It begins with the tenant politely addressing his landlord, asking him to repair a leaky roof and a broken staircase in his home. However, the tenant's tone becomes increasingly impatient as the landlord proves unhelpful. In a series of rhetorical questions, the tenant asks his landlord whether he plans to evict him. Eventually, he even threatens to physically attack the landlord.
In response, the landlord calls the police, telling them that his tenant is acting threateningly. The police arrive, and they arrest the tenant and take him to jail, in a series of events recounted through a straightforward list of places and images.
The end of the poem consists of a list of headlines from a local newspaper. These headlines tell readers that the tenant has been held in jail without bail, sent to trial, and sentenced to ninety days in jail.
