Used Man One Owner 

Two men talk on a darkened jet 
in the middle of the night;
the older man looks much like the younger one 
but they haven’t talked since 
one of them was a baby. 

old: So listen sonny, do you think that because 
of your hard childhood the world owes you something? 

young: No, I just want the world to get out of my way. 
And when I say world, I don’t mean you. Or any of my friends 
or all the other people I love. Or the stewardess here. Or 
that crying baby behind us. I just mean this other thing 
they call The World. Which nobody really has to care about 
or pay attention to. You know? 

old: Wow. Yeah I do. That’s pretty good, Mister Man. 
Buy you a drink?


A little later the jet banks
dips a wing in the window
the ice moves a little in their plastic glasses,
and the men see shimmering golden lights 
in the dark below,
not a one of those lights -
The World.