Legitimacy Is So Chummy

First thing is: everyone presses the room.
To handshake the perimeter
like a grass snake: the clammy waiting
to get their chance at you.
Go on handyswipe boy. Give them a little wink.
Listen: you tell them what you want.
You get it and you are kind.
Maybe everyone wins the big contract.
Maybe we could all be the stockholders.
What do you say? Calluses only show
on the outside. You’re one
of those guys, never built a muscle
but pillowy hands.
Say, hello.
Say, Let’s do business.
I’ve always loved you
like a wallet, you know.

Copyright © 2009 J. P. Dancing Bear All rights reserved
from The National Poetry Review
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission