Six Urban Love Songs

IV.  Safe-T-Man

"This unique security product looks incredibly
real, with moveable latex head and hands, and
air-brushed facial highlights."
                                                       advertisement
 

If safety can be had from hollow men

whom one can place to fill the empty chair,

let's leave them to their task of sitting, then;

while I'll these blow-up men to you compare:

    From far off you pose, endangered, rare—

    and, coated as you are with scent and skin,

    you are surely filled with hotter air;

    still, neither heart can quite admit me in.

    Though Safe-T-Man can dress for many roles—

    wearing hats for winter or for tropic breezes—

    in commuter lanes, the real men can count tolls;

    yet ... do not fold to fit precisely in valises.

To buy or not to buy the button-on legs—?

Can anyone be safe?  the question begs.

Kate Light

From The Laws of Falling Bodies, Story Line Press,
© 1997, co-winner of the 1997 Nicholas Roerich Prize.
Reprinted by permission of the author.