Looking Up High, Wondering . . .

He wanted to buy a new pair of pants
to attend parties,
to appear fine-looking
and convincing.

He had tried a hundred pairs
at various clothes shops,
yet never had he found any pairs
that fit him well.

Before shopkeepers,
swarming around him persuading,
he even took off his own pants
and cast them aside.

"You all don't know, eh,
that I've been seeking for pants
that accommodate and suit me best,
for hanging out at cemeteries."

Then he fled,
pantslessly,
and ventured
in search of his mother's grave
only to ask her:
"Momma, where have you kept the cute pants
I used to wear as a baby?"
(1996)