You, in a long black overcoat,
Striding past me
On this busy street
And giving me the air,
I have a hunch
You are the one who cracks the whip
Around here and gives
Two-bit grippers like me the gate.
Is that true, big shot?
Better run for that limo
Idling at the curb,
’Cause I’m getting hot under the collar
and may yet blow my fuse.
—Charles Simic
Charles Simic has been Poet Laureate of the United States and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. His latest book is Come Closer and Listen.
