Milkman

Milkman

the retired 
old milkman
in smug
satisfaction
always used to say,
"we all find what suits us
naturally. mine just 
happened to be
being a milkman."

he was proud
of having been
a milkman
proud of delivering
his nutritious products
not just milk
but eggs and butter too
fancying himself
as much
a door-to-door
physician
or pharmacists
a deliverer of needs
as much
as a milkman

a milkman
and pretend
friend to the community
waving
smiling
at housewives
cops
utilitymen
and mailmen
while talking shit
behind their backs
like how
all the lonely
sexy housewives
wanted to fuck
all the white uniformed
milkmen
far more
than they desired
their lazy
publicly employed
mailmen
firefighters
and cops

he was proud
of being a milkman
his
pretend cheer
and importance
necessarily
set against
the fake cheer
and importance
of mailmen and cops
as the necessary method
of bolstering
the pride
of the milkman

some
of his fellow milkmen
in their days
as milkmen
were
and remained
more than mere milkmen
but this milkman
never was
never became
anything more
than nothing
as well as
a retired
milkman

whenever i saw
this retired
old milkman
he reminded me
of the privilege
and how proud he was
of once being 
a milkman
and reminding me
always
how he heeded
nature's call
as a proud
deliverer
of fresh
dairy goods

and on those days
when being
an old
retired milkman
wasn't enough
he reminded himself
taking pride
in his eggs
milk and butter
never being spoiled
unlike those mailmen
delivering birthday and christmas cards
but
bills and junk mail too
and the cops
saving lives
while knocking on doors
delivering
notifications
of tragedy
even death
sometimes
too

all of it 
a strange justification
for being the milkman
and strange
for its neglect
in failing
to justify
his natural nothingness
after being a milkman
compared
to the cops and firemen
and mailmen
and other milkmen
many of whom
remained something
or became something
more than their uniforms
far beyond
the passing
of their
professions