disheveled
i see you sitting there
he says
only it doesn’t look like you
but it is you
he says
only you’re slouched
instead of upright
your hair is greasy
and it looks long
what’s this? he asks
rubbing his trim beard
then pointing at my unkempt one
it just has to grow in
i explain
he waves me off
i don’t know
he says
wrinkled clothes
greasy, long hair
scraggly beard
something is wrong here
for sure
you look seedy
disheveled
he says
then he walks away
without asking the question
he meant to ask
everyone is a fucking critic.
Once again.. you took me there.. actually had me wanting to shove the wise-ass..
ReplyDeleteyour closing line bangs...
Lynne..thanks....guess the stress on the job is starting to show on me on the outside. still, i dont walk into stores et al, and tell the people working there that they basically look like shit.
ReplyDeleteHad a guy say I ought to get cleaned up - less Whitman, more Hemingway ...
ReplyDeleteThat'll be great, I can look forward to blowing my head off.
Some customers think they own you. Fortunately, keeping a correct perspective by realizing, with this guy anyway, that he makes shit appealing. I'm with Lynne, solid poem, bro.
don...it's a trip being a public servant.
ReplyDeletespeaking of whitman...thinking of starting up a petition to get a statue of him in NYC or Brooklyn, down by the East River. We have the literary walk in Central Park but nothing, nothing for Whitman...hell, even most of his old haunts are gone...except the facade of Pfaff's, his bar, which is now a fucking shoe store
A shoe store! He'd probably see the practicality, but not much like the prices.
ReplyDeleteA statue in Brooklyn ... the thing to do. They've been thinking about closing the libraries in his other hometown,Camden. I think they got that one straightened out though.
don...that's probably the only thing they have worked out in Camden. I envision a statue at the banks of the East River, looking toward Manhattan.
ReplyDeleteNow there's a Facebook page to start ...
ReplyDelete