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