middle-aged man
carrying a backpack
can't be up to any good
why isn't he
wearing a suit
riding first class amtrak
winning the bread
setting the example
doing what a man has to do
he don't have the answers
middle-aged man
carrying the worn-out backpack
can't be looked up to
wanders in random circles
shabby but not unkempt
for he stands up in battered dignity
carrying around his own life
which aside from that old backpack
is all he got now
glenn peters (Omaha, NE, 1971)
