Chapter and Verse

to build around him libraries
of failed mentors and hermits
in fascination with bad cinema
as honest as any cliché can be
this is about the man
who has a favorite national anthem
the kind of guy with traditional footwear
goes to all this trouble
to walk along with the tootsie roll syndrome
whatever it is he thinks he sees
each of his lines are admonitions of
a firm belief in this one or the next love
whomever it is given and not given
in the last big musical number