On the Elevator Going Down

A Caucasian gets on at
     the 17th floor.
He is old, fat, and expensively
     dressed.
I say hello / I'm friendly.
     He says, "Hi."

Then he looks very carefully at
     my clothes.

I'm not expensively dressed.
I think his left shoe costs more
than everything I am wearing.

He doesn't want to talk to me
     any more.

I think that he is not totally aware
that we are really going down
and there are no clothes after you have
been dead for a few thousand years.

He thinks as we silently travel
down and get off at the bottom
     floor
that we are going separate
     ways.
                    Tokyo
                    June 4, 1976

 

Richard Brautigan, Quest vol 77, November/December 1977