Is He A Poofter Poem by jan hansen

Is he a Poofter?

I was reading "An American Tragedy" by Theodore Dreiser
reading slowly because the writer proceeded slowly in his writing
It was eleven at night; I was going to bed when I had finished a chapter;
when there was a knock on my cabin door, the deckhand
stood there looking shy; I asked him what he wanted, and apparently
he had run out of cigarettes; I didn't believe him and asked who had sent him;
he didn't answer but hurriedly left
It appeared the former chief steward was gay, now the boy was sent up
by the crew to see if I was gay too
A cargo ship, is a cosmos of gossip and pornographic magazines
when there was a perfect library with books changed by a welfare origination
the literature was of a high standard, this was an effort to educate and brighten
the mind of seamen
Alas, I was not social, sitting in mess halls playing cards and telling risqué jokes,
spent my free time in my cabin surrounded by books and dreams of a better life.
A better life came when illness ended my career and
I was free to find my own way in life.