“A Guy”
Aug 6 2020
Who knew someone
who knew someone
who knew a guy.
Who can mud drywall
repair a typewriter
get a good deal
on a 2nd hand car.
We all have “our guy”
whom we jealously guard
from offers, distractions, and greener grass.
Whom we only share
with blood relatives
and intimate friends.
We are all connected
by byzantine networks
of acquaintance, obligation, and reciprocal trust.
Of former friends
and friends of friends
and a guy you once met
in a casual conversation
stuck waiting in line.
I am not handy
have few practical skills.
Should the well run dry, the pump break
I would die of thirst,
the car not start
I'd go back to bed.
I depend on others to get by;
the kindness of strangers
a social web.
Because there is no such thing
as the self-made man,
no castaway
on a speck of island
of the sovereign self.
Luckily, “my guy” is a jack of all trades
who knows a guy with a boat
who can come the next day.
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