The cleaning Man
errol miller
“A cleaning man came
and removed his life.”
Nikki Giovanni
Hawklike men
their women undressing down
to carcass, hawklike men
their women undressing
down to nothing
perception revealing
that concocted blurring place
curious, and not disciplined
confused, not self-created
these quiet dry-brown species of men
rowing as one outward to old age
they have heaven in their boots
their plump mistresses moan
and worry about tomorrow
devoted to waiting
for death’s release from contract
these passive men, grey eyes
wandering back to mirrors
in the collective dusk of twilight
their skinny arms tred no water
across the Bay one red light
flickering solitary
a silence and a soliloquy
and an isolated prince of Jungian Dreams
tiptoeing into the room, shattering
earlier work, whitewashing
the blue horror
at the core of life.
