Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SELFISHNESS, by WALT MASON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SELFISHNESS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Jim kickshaw has a touring car, in which
Last Line: Is thanks; they have no assets in the banks.
Subject(s): Poverty; Selfishness


JIM KICKSHAW has a touring car, in which he journeys near and far. There's room

for seven in the same, and Jim might bring to many a dame who seldom has a
chance to ride, pure happiness ten cubits wide. But Jim would rather ride alone,

than take some poor old gent or crone. He'd take a banker or some skate who's
made a pile in real estate; he'd load his car with damsels fair, and still
insist there's room to spare. He'd gladly take a joyous crew, to whom such rides

are nothing new. But there are men with spavined limbs, and poor old dames with

worn-out glims; and crippled kids who sit and sigh, as gorgeous cars go whizzing

by; and mothers, tired until their hearts just yearn for rides in choo-choo
carts; and maiden aunts who'd trade their hair for three long breaths of country

air. But these will never ride with Jim; they're poor, and don't appeal to him;

the men don't wear their whiskers straight, the women's hats are out of date,
the kids have seedy pinafores, from rolling round on unwashed floors. There's
nothing in it, any way; you haul the poor for half a day, and all you get for it

is thanks; they have no assets in the banks.





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