We’ve all heard about Juanita—poor,
dear woman with her poor, dear woman act
metastasizing like a metaphor
into fact;

that benefactor of Topeka Teens
Making a Difference and the quiet third
shifts he was pulling, sealing smack glassines—
we’ve all heard,

even Nicole, whose novel never goes
anywhere because she isn’t ready
to think the worst of characters she knows
haven’t done anything to anybody.