The Swimmer - Bob Warren
We sat together
on a stone wall
both of us broke
we shared a Pall Mall
shivering... in the morning air
at the Fisherman's Wharf
near Ghirardelli Square
he stubbled and gray
forty-five years old
told me he's a swimmer
I said, "the water is so cold"
he said, "it is, but once I get in--
all I do is swim..."
he used to write poetry
and played the clarinet
when he had a couple published
he thought he was a poet
but he laughed and said,
"that was ages ago
and i sold my clarinet to come to San Francisco"
"in the fifties I was young
and New York was my town
and for me, Hemingway was the only one
who knew what was goin' on...
ah, but when he suicided, man,
it sorta brought all that
to an end"
he told me he was married once
but couldn't take the games
of competition he and his wife were playin'
he said, "she was a dancer, and i was a drunk,
she owns an art gallery now
and i'm still a drunk"
he asked me what I thought of Bob Dylan
said he liked one i might know
something about, "Desolation Row"
we walked to the showers in the silver sun
and when i left him
he was putting his swimming trunks on
we sat together
on a stone wall
both of us broke
we shared a Pall Mall
shivering... in the morning air
at the Fisherman's Wharf
near Ghirardelli Square
© 1982 by Bob Warren