-traveler, seller, money-maker-

He performed on stage

For the Black Friars Guild at the Sons

Of Italy Hall on Covel Street to rave reviews
In the mimeographed playbills

Then took it on the road driving an eye-weary

Couple of hundred miles a day

Although the selling came as easily as stage-acting.

We know the uniform of the salesman;

The heel-worn polished shoes, wash-faded

Dress shirt with pencil-thin, to wide-plank ties
As current fashion dictated, the buttoned trench-coat
And topping it off,

The soft-brimmed fedora, like a breaking wave
Draping the constant haircut stubble.

In the house, the bookcase in the living room

Was filled with curios, knick-knacks,

Endless milk-glass and a stack of the necessary

National Geographic magazines with nowhere else to go.

But on the road, the trunk of the Buick

Was ready for anything,— filled with cardboard

Advertising displays of healthy young women

In big bikinis holding bottles of booze in their hands

And neon-blue script hawking Pabst Blue Ribbon
With miles to travel east
To the bars and restaurants of Buzzards Bay,

Then miles to travel west
And another layer of weariness
In the recurring production of the house in Fall River

All from the traveling stage of the road.

                                                  Quequechan