Mr Clean

Standing with wife and carriaged baby girl,
A clean shaven young man
Told the union rep
“Without Walmart groceries would cost 3 times as much”.

Mr Clean stood at the edge of the ocean beach walk,
Behind the Del Coronado Hotel,
He was in his element,
Looking earnest and sounding hollow.

Another enlightened soul
Secure in the safety of his latter day Teddy-bear,
Wife, baby, hotel, beach,white.
Maybe he thought the conversation meaningful.

If the union rep, a much bigger guy,
Had entered Mr. Clean’s space
And put his foot on the smaller man’s sandal
An argument might have ensued.

For then the safety net would have been penetrated,
Subsumed by the question confronting him.
What wisdom could he speak to his antagonist,
On a field he need play without armor?

Might he realize that his lie was not big enough?
Could he imagine something else might matter more?
Had he not noticed the destruction of community?
Without “the other” what would test his pristine certainty?