thrift
		
thinking he could be patient and thrilled
the man, not that far from being a boy,
put his card in the pocket of a favorite coat
and donated it with a box of old clothes to the thrift

years later a poet introduced himself to the old boatboy
smiling as one 
himself given to reuse and modesty
and read a short poem he'd composed for the event:

	think about what it feels like to be an artist
	and you feel a silvery thing in your mouth,
	put there by the spoon
	your heart is
	when you gladden to the secret 
	life you lead, asking others
	to let you alone
	and just be fair

so what then, he thought,
here's this poet reading to him 
in a familiar coat, how should he feel
who never wrote, but knew 
he could and would
and would




©Copyright 2002 Peter Chapman

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