Back Channel

Like old friends
from fraternity days
who count on each other
to corroborate conquests
and exaggerations,
they secretly call
each other from jets, joke
about clueless journalists,
and hide their jealousies
from themselves,
as they pause to converse
in front of mirrors
where they admire the man
who will soon
have it all.
Meeting in person
on either side
of the nervous world,
both watching
how they are watched,
it is all position
and posturing—
a slap on the back,
a wink, a smirk,
men meeting men
who know women.
Hated and praised
by passionate citizens
they count as losers,
with every handshake,
each of them is more
sure they are the one
secretly using the other
to get the goods
to get ahead.

Anne McCrady

NewsLinks:  Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, The Guardian

AudioLink: Soundcloud