The Dow Recruiter, or This Young Man Is Making up His Mind
Tom Wayman
They’re always playing tricks on me, by
telling me their name is Eichmann, or
they’re really interested in our
gas project – the one for Zyklon-B.
Others are earnest, showing me those –
those photographs of the children and
appealing to me as a man, how
can one work for the company if
it is like that. Others say the creeps
outside don’t bother them, they just want
to work for something settled, with plans.
And there are those who take the folders
thoughtfully, as I did, thinking too
of the God-damned crying child.
Flowers,
bright red ones along the lane, turn just
one side to the sun, one face of their
mass of petals. What a man is, is
less clear, and what a man is doing…
Violence overflows, the shouting and
the bodies crowd in sometimes, the red-
faced officials saying things to me
and all those people. My wife keeps our
bedsheets cool and quiet, now that the
money comes. Sundays, the green spread and
the white room hold the lights, and outside
red flowers are growing in the lane.
Wayman, Tom. “The Dow Recruiter, or This Young Man Is Making Up His Mind.” Fifteen Winds: A Selection of Modern Canadian Poems. Ed. Al Purdy. Toronto: Ryerson, 1969. 111. Repr. in Storm Warning: The New Canadian Poets. Ed. Purdy. Toronto: McClelland, 1971. 135.