three hours of Yes, Darling, & Tell me, Dear
when I speak too softly, Ma’am? I’m alarmed
soon enough mellow & charmed, he takes
out posts, I pull vines, gently rake
broken sticks & leaves from damp earth
he smokes, calls himself fat man, his girth
affirms it, three hours is long enough
to learn how his wife died, a rough
end, breast cancer metastasized
how the Navy recommended he retire
three years of that, boring — yes
retirement's worse than working, I can attest
to that — we are not averse to hard labor
we keep our distance, we’re neighbors
No comments:
Post a Comment