Misanthrope

His hair is the sun
bleached tall grass,
which had clung
to his scalp
as he lay in the fields,
age eight.

But his hands
are cracked
from bending steel cables
to his will,
a will bought up
and bent out
by Wagner and Warner
Manufacturing, INC.
for the
past
two
decades.

If he ever delved
his finger into the cool
rich soil
of his youth,
the dirt
would only cake
his raw joints
and burn,
burgeoning
infection.