HALF A MAN

His steel encased

Plush cockpit

Meant to cut space/tame time

Is pawing at the curbside lane.

For what is a man without a car

But half a man?

His worsted wool

Exec-body armor

Fashioned by haberdasher’s hands

Sets him as a sharp-dressed gent.

For what is a man without a suit

But half a man?

His eel-skin

Brass appointed carry-all

Envied by the polished elite

Completes his authority aura.

For what is a man without a brief case

But half a man?

His position of power

As a money-influenced desk merchant

Will shelter him from the glad-hands.

For what is a man without a job

But half a man?

His Sunday-style prayer

At his once-a-week hour-long

Reassures for now his deeper self.

For what is a man with half a whole

But eternity’s wandering-wanting soul?

January 26, 1994

New York City