Sunday, October 7, 2012

The Fat Men

photo: ralph murre


The Fat Men
with reference to Eliot’s poem: “The Hollow Men”
by Gary C. Busha

We are the fat men.
We are the stuffed men
leaning together like slabs of bacon . . .

Our throaty voices,
when our mouths are full,
are brash and boastful
as trombones and tubas,
and heavy as clydesdales
on the earthen floor of dank barns.

This is the big land.
This is the heavy land.
Here the opulent images
are raised, here they receive
hams and puddings,
the supplication of banquet and feast
under the sagging bellies of tables . . .

The ribs are here.
There are hamhocks here.
In this valley of corpulence,
in this glen of gluttony,
in this lavish, creamy kingdom . . .

Between the chops
and the applesauce,
between the baked beans
and potatoes, falls
the shadow,
big in circumference . . .

Between the pastries
and the lamb chops,
between the sot and the rum,
between the mid-course and desert,
falls the napkin,
soiled and crumpled . . .

This is the way the fat comes,
this is the way the fat comes,
this is the way the fat comes,
not with the salad but with the stuffing.

~ first published in PAGE 5