Mature Age Student

            for Dad

 

The earth is crying 

          because it’s lost

          a fake Rolex it believed was real 

          based on the glistening 

 

multitude of assurances

          piled onto the Rolex

          by the passenger in the earth’s taxi 

          who’d had no cash and used 

          the watch to pay the earth 

 

in a time

            before digital transactions,

 

in a time          

            when the earth had a second job

 

driving taxis at night to pay for night

            courses in psychology

            because education had stopped

            at 15 years of age

 

in the earth’s small town but stayed 

            for decades howling 

            by the front door of the earth’s mind

            like a dog with abandonment issues.