SINGLE MAN BLUES

A single man
A carpenter, plumber or electrician Clattering along in a panel truck
Thoughts with his coffee gone cold

A single man, but
An ocean flows inside him
Grey shores circling the narrow
Coastline of his skull

He knew it was there
But turned his eyes from it

But if a single man would break
The streets would be flooded
The world would be water
And all this forgotten

Except for a single thing
An old dresser knob
Or a child’s wooden hammer
Left floating

A reminder of industry
That hands sleep somewhere below