The Weight
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Of course, the ones
who came to his office
might have been turned away
by the salesman's stomach,
so heavy as he bent
to the drawer for his brochure,
he had to lean on the cabinet
with one small arm.
But when he stood up
and they saw how he had pushed
the stomach deep into his pants,
cinching the buckle high above it
as if to say, Here I am
above the belt, a normal man,
they were moved by his effort
to resemble them. The truth is,
sitting down at the table,
where the stomach disappeared,
he was like them, except
for his sorrow, which at first
they could not lift away.
Yet choosing the things they most
wanted from his brochure,
they brought a smile
to his face. Soon, at the door,
they were shaking his hand
like old friends, just before
they returned to their old hunger,
the anticipation of happiness
they carried like a weight.
