Where He Found Himself

by Stephen Dunn

The new man unfolded a map and pointed

to a dark spot on it. "See, that's how

far away I feel all the time, right here,

among all of you," he said.

"Yes," John the gentle mule replied,

"alienation is clearly your happiness."

But the group leader interrupted,

"Now, now, let's hear him out,

let's try to be fair." The new man felt

the familiar comfort of everyone against him.

He went on about the stupidities

of love, life itself as one long foreclosure,

until another man said, "I was a hog,

a terrible hog, and now I'm a llama."

To which another added, "And me, I was a wolf.

Now children walk up to me , unafraid."

The group leader asked the new man,

"What kind of animal have you been?"

"A rat that wants to remain a rat," he said,

and the group began to soften

as they remembered their own early days,

the pain before the transformation.

By The Book - proceeds to benefit ACF