Respectability
My hair cut short, a tie around my neck,
a jacket on, I wander to and fro.
All this procures a somewhat larger check,
but how much farther will I choose to go?
A little at a time I disappear,
but whether from the edge or within
I couldn't say. Am I becoming clear
or is that rather that I'm wearing thin?
I may say: I am really not like this,
it's just a role I play, a mask I wear.
But then I poke beneath the artifice,
a little fearfully: Am I still there?
So far it doesn't hurt when I negate
myself. But how long till I dissipate?
---
Inspired by my year as a food service supervisor, so it must be 1979.
