I have visited Men’s Rooms
in several bars
with the rows
of urinals like old men
and the six-sided odor
of disinfectant.
I have felt the sadness
of the small white tiles,
the repeated shapes
and the unavoidable whiteness.
They are my uncles,
these old men
who are only plumbing,
who throb with tears all night
and doze in the morning.
-Donald Hall