-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 the great but cantankerous Sarah Caldwell ran the place.

But after his wife's sudden death at the age of forty 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 ol' Roger, he just kept snipping hair

and humming Mozart arias

and I didn’t have to ask him:

 "was

       she
          beautiful"?

Fall River