-Roger the Barber-

Roger the Barber

Whose one-chair shop

Is located on South

Main Street just before

The downtown line of demarcation
To the southend of town,

Cuts my hair while humming

Mozart arias.

He told me that he and his wife,
A graduate of one of the conservatories

Would regularly attend the Opera in Boston

When Sarah Caldwell ran the place.

But after his wife's sudden death
At the age of twenty eight

He stopped going to the opera.

From the chair, I asked him
How long he’d been a barber.

I asked him:
"Does the hair-cutting profession
Have a history in your family?

How long have you been at this location?

Have you ever considered

The two-chair configuration"? 

I asked him:
"Have you petitioned the city to take

The parking meter away"?

But that old Roger, he just kept
Snipping hair and humming Mozart arias

And I didn’t have to ask him:

"Was
      She
          Beautiful"?

                                 Fall River