calloused, cracked knuckles defend

against dawn's first flush

 

chipped nails trim grime-washed

palms, eager to work

 

tuck shirttail into too-big trousers, straighten frayed cuffs without sleeve-buttons;

 

hold open doors.

 

suits, ties, phones, files

corporate-meeting-vivisetion-congregation

 

per diem procession

 

Could you believe it!

 

In-house coffee tastes like crap! I won't drink it!

 

I DON'T have any spare change. He should get a job!

 

outcast cups catch castaway coins tossed, en route.

 

8 hours procurement: $3.50

 

morning special:

small coffee and any regular donut $2.00

 

...a limited supply

 

evening exigency:

bed at hostel for one night $4.00

 

...a limited supply

 

another biting night on numbing city

cement, huddled between

threadbare sack and subterranean chasm

spewing foul vapors

warming;

 

carting workmen home to post-bachelor flats

baroque accoutrements: toilets, hot water

​

his life furnishes no surplus