HE’S A REAL SUNDAY GENTLEMAN, WITH TEATIME MANNERS...

A REAL BOARDING SCHOOL AFTERNOONER

Walks near the row boats at noon while the others sleep afternoon after afternoon.

SOMEONE WHO EATS HIS DINNER IN A RESTAURANT

The restaurant weeps. The tears are like little swimming pools inside of fire-oceans.

A FELLOW WALKS DOWN THE SHADY SIDE OF THE STREET

He knows what it’s like to be sunburnt, like the sun, and shady, like the moon.

WEARS A HAT OF SOMEONE ELSE’S CHOOSING

Someone else feels happy that way, and he doesn’t mind so much.

A SUNSET LOVER

There are more sunset lovers than there are grains of sand that wish they weren’t grains of sand.

SMOOTH ELBOWS

Supple, lyrical, and only apparent when they don’t disappear, briskly.

A MAN WITH SPECIFIC MANNERISMS

This is difficult to explain on the radio, at dawn, in the rain.

SLEEPS DIAGONALLY

A perfect fleshy X, when he finds love.

A PEPLEXMENT

Takes the form of a statement in a pea pod.

RIDES THE CAROUSEL

But never tells a soul on earth unless they’re dead.

AN EVENING BOTANIST

His flashlight is one of a kind but that doesn’t make him happy.

CLASSICALLY ATHLETIC

Beethoven had strong muscles.

FRATERNALLY MINDED

And yet he wears a light wristwatch.

WEARS A LIGHT WRISTWATCH

And yet he still wears a light wristwatch.

GIVES A CAREFUL HANDSHAKE

It’s almost like a symphony, with flesh.

GIVES TOO MUCH CHANGE FOR A DOLLAR

He despises change.

A FLUENT SWIMMER

He leaps from one pool to the next, like a frog in a story containing both moral and marijuana.

A KEEN-EYED BIRDWATCHER

As he grows older, he understands birds as much as they understand him.

FOND OF HIS MOTHER

Once he thinks of her as an old fashioned egg cream.

ELEGANT

But uncertain if that means he can light things on fire.

BUILT ON AN UNCERTAIN FOUNDATION

Which makes it necessary for the sake of other certainties.

FLUTTERSOME

Like a keen French detective, in fine fettle and with a fob.

A REAL JACKDAW

Though it is often said, it remains undefined by those who fear it could be less than it might be.

AVOWED BACHELOR

If you say it often enough, it becomes one word, and then, at last, bursts into hungry flames.

A GENTLEMAN OF THE PIERS

Does not engage with silvan ditties.

BORN WITH THE CAUL

And plays on the shepherd’s pipe what songs he will.

LIMBER

Enough for limbo in a dream by Picasso or is it Cassius Clay in a swimming pool?

AN AESTHETE

When at such times there when A and E were the only married vowels in the alphabet.

IN THE WAY OF UNCLES

Where aunts are shopping for new uncles under the sun.

HE THROWS A PARTY WITH AN OPEN GUEST LIST

Everyone who comes is open.

SON OF THE MOON

Stays awake because it’s just so exciting to be the son of the moon.

A BOY FROM ETON

One day his beard will fall beneath the barber’s blade.

ALWAYS RINGS TWICE

Ne’er thrice, ne’er thrice. Best to bring a pie.

HAS A SILK BATHROBE

Made of Egyptian Cotton.

NOT QUITE UP-TO-CODE

And wonders how the Navajos would say that, and if they would love him for that.

HE HITCHHIKES INSTEAD OF TAKING THE BUS

Because the bus only goes to familiar places that contain towns and places.

STAYS AHEAD OF THE GAME

Even when others are fast asleep, chasing games.

A SKILLFUL MOUNTAIN CLIMBER

A skillful mountain climber indeed.

SALUTES ANOTHER FLAG

That he mounts in his upside-down chimney.

AN UPSIDE-DOWN CHIMNEY SWEEP

Removes the flag when it begins to rain.