American Folklore And Tall Tales Poem by Raj Dronamraju

Smoking in the men's bathroom toilet stalls without fear of reprisal
Rehearsing to be men, their banter are insults, insecurity, pop culture references

While at home, she is proud of her Tupperware
Bakes vacations into airless sealed packages
Scolds open mindedness
Makes totalitarian threats against actions that don't include her

Wisdom kept at bay, limited to game preserves
Subject to a three month hunting season
Where's the adult male in this equation?
A gunshy Ozzie Nelson feeling the stress of the sole earner
Kicks off his shoes and is too far removed to acknowledge the gifts of empire

Together they wrote down the monthly expenditures as if they were a secret wish to God
Burn the ledger, let the smoke ascend up to God as prayer
For they will know this ordinary scene but not how much it will be celebrated
The mundane celebrated as the best America can do

For they tell of Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill doing superhuman acts
And they tell of a time when a man could support a wife, two or more kids, a house, two cars, send the kids to college - all on one salary
They tell of a time when a working man could do all of this on one salary