My Friend, Wendell Berry

My friend, Wen

dell Berry

bought a pocket watch

like this one:

for 25¢

off the back of a truck in San Francisco

He was real excited and happy

about his shrewd deal.

I, a sophisticated midwesterner,

with an $80

watch

like this one:

given to me by my mother

was simply unimpressed

and a little amused.

You see, Wendell is from

a couple of miles

below the Ohio River

and I’m from several

miles above the Ohio River

in the lap of culture.

Well, yesterday, my $80 watch

broke

and Wendell offered

to sell me his watch for 50¢

—that would be a 100% profit!

So I went to

this discount place, Baz’r,

and bought a watch

like this one:

for $3.66. Obviously a better watch

than Wendell’s.

But I ain’t never

talking to Mr. Wendell Berry again.

Structure

34 lines · 34 stanzas