124

THE OBSERVANT SALESMAN

Back in the train
The chiropractors of California
Are questions unreal
As the feet of roosters
In civic gardens --
Real enough, and tough
As language in the mouths
Of poets, solid as objects
Of devotion in suitcases
Of white bakelite.
A spice rack gathers dust
Like an encyclopedia
In a home, and home is a target
To hit by letting go
To concentrate on how you hold yourself
After you've attended to
The sober icon, the valid menswear.