he eats with his hands

            it’s more deliberate that way

                        cumbersome as it’s done

he chokes through his words

            and convinces his wives

                        robust as he’s along

he never borrows energy from the sun

            because he knows he’d only return it inconveniently

            though he looks just hard enough to see its worth

indeed, he is a mean old man

            as that’s how you start

            and he didn’t care—starting there still