Poem

I wasn’t feeling at all low
that day I stepped inside
a buzzing bistro, penniless,
learning to be penitent for
so many who had far less
when I squandered money,
to thrive on the energy of
being able to. No one there
probably knew though; yet
I needed that experience to
further tame my lofty ego.

I am changing the way I
look at things, and am so
glad to learn my place in
the ways of men who can’t
control their lives anymore
than they can waft a wind.
And right now, as I write
this, sun outside my open
window lies. Ike is ashore,
tearing through Texas now
as we tore through Iraq; and
we have no weapon for that.

Willie James King lives in Montgomery, Ala.