-after the holiday meal

I was drawn to the parlor where

the fraternity of work-a-day men

sat bullshitting over the outer-

movements of their labors.

particularly interesting was the way

in which they'd pay attention

to each "bellyacher's" annoyance,

a kinship formed by a fundamental

acknowledgment of the brotherhood,

each participant nodding like bobble-

headed Mussolini impersonators

employing the requisite facial expressions

with every topic under discussion

bobbing and nodding in compliance

of having been there,

the muscles of their faces

slowly contracting, dropping at the jaw-lines,

the lower lips pulling the wrinkling

chins along for the ride.

"damn kids today"...

       "that stroonce at the gas station"...

              "that son-of-a-bitch nephew of mine"...

"y' know Tony at the A & P?

wife dropped dead.

just like that.

ya never know".

ya never know.

ya never know...

and with their hands intruding

into the beltways

stopping at the heavier row of knuckles

I’d walk back to the kitchen

to look at the women

as they washed and wiped, swiped

and scraped, wrapped and stacked,

criss-crossing

one another over the linoleum

in the ensemble’s after-the-meal

kitchen ballet.

that’s where the action was.

the older women, the pros,

know what to do

as the youngest among them

timidly await instruction.

the novice able to reach the shelf at the top

is given the opportunity to do so.

through the narrow hallway,

the newlywed gone missing

from the kitchen's activity

is soon found in the parlor,

sitting on the armrest

of her husband's easy-chair,

one leg tucked behind the other,

her forearm draping his shoulder

listening intently

to the masters-of-complaint.

she listens through the smoke,

through the sounds of heavy digestion,

occasionally adding a smile, frown,

a shake of her head or sigh

of sympathetic understanding

anxious for her husband,

the parlor's "complainer-in-training"

to offer the strength of his unique contribution,

neither yet realizing

her proper place in the system of things.

                                                   c.1951