The aide, the maid, & the old man in 217

Herman Sutter

April 12, 2022

He’s playing with hisself again.

Says to me, I like your hair.

Only I saw what he was up to.

That something he supposed to be doin?

What else he gonna?

That’s what I say.

Who else he got to play with?

You’d think he wouldn’t wanna 

anymore. His age.

Age aint the problem.

It’s just who he is.

It’s just his his-ness.

Just burning itself out.

Likes my hair, he say.

I guess that aint all he was liking.

I guess that’s right.

Glad this time ‘least it was you.

Somebody gonna have to clean it up.

Somebody always do.

Herman Sutter (poet, librarian) is the author of The World Before Grace (Wings Press) and Stations (Wiseblood Books). His work appears in: Saint Anthony Messenger, The Perch, tejascovido, Langdon Review, Touchstone, i.e., as well as: Texas Poetry Calendar (2021) & By the Light of a Neon Moon (Madville Press, 2019).