dealing with
voluble, garrulous, dealing with regret
and loss of function with loss of use
of limbs, he deals out words as though
all who come to visit are game to hear
again and again his same stories,
not of unmanly woe, but male triumphs
with big machines, heavy equipment
admiring blonds who circle and smile
and later turn nasty and vicious
and drive him to drink
he has needs, but trying to help him
is proving costly

