a Stark, Ohio poem


The Comprehensible Life


He remembers his
one try at
paper boy.  Walking

through drizzle into
an Elks Lodge -- stale
beer smell, peanut

shells on wood floor,
stubbly guys in ball
caps, barbecue chips

bought with a quarter
he couldn't really afford. 
And through drizzle

again to cabbage-smelling
apartment hallways,
to City Hall, cops

clomping around like
bears.  Everybody
grumbling if he was late

or the paper was wet.
"It's better to do a job
people don't understand,"

Dickhardt said to himself
at twelve, and except
for the barbecue chips

which he still loves,
he's put that life --
the comprehensible life --

completely away.

great. just great.

Thank you, Lavonne!

Rick

I liked it a whole lot, every word.  My only suggestion: maybe cabbage-smelling "should" be hyphenated.  (I love hyphens! but if I'm not careful I can overdo them in a poem, which really means I should use less compound words.)  I loved "stubbly".  I am going to get out my paper route poem and revise it!  The idea in the title and the last lines is very fresh to me, and appealing.  So much for comprehension!  Good for you!