Mismatch

I always liked Guy
and I still think the boy
could have done better

He is from a poor background
and strangely awed
by Marlene's father
a pencil-necked CPA
who keeps a family crest
above his office desk

Guy drives a sanitation truck
has never missed a day
can retire in twenty years with a pension

The in-laws do admire Guy's
wonderful good looks
and Marlene's crowd cannot believe
such a hunk would fall to her

I heard a sharp-eyed woman
at the Sunday smorgasbord saying
after Marlene and Guy had passed
"If that princely man
ever learns basic grammar
Marlene will be back
where he found her"

Notes

McDaniel, Wilma. (2001) Borrowed Coats. Hanging Loose Press, Brooklyn, New York.
Courtesy University of California, Merced Library. Copyright owned by the Regents of the University of California.