[37] Gloucester Harbor, Doug Holder

There is a large man on a bench
a self-declared mayor of the harbor
and you must pass him
and he will greet you,
“How are you, today?”
He will look deeply
into your eyes
as if to deny
it’s a rhetorical question.

“Have a good day!”
he croons
to all passing through
inert in a checkered shirt
it balloons
like a mast
in the wind.
His skin burnt brown
from countless days
in the sun.

And yet he sits there
thinking,
“There is so much
more to be done.”