Hook

The poem

I was only a young man In those days. On that evening The cold was so God damned Bitter there was nothing. Nothing. I was in trouble With a woman, and there was nothing There but me and dead snow.

I stood on the street corner In Minneapolis, lashed This way and that. Wind rose from some pit, Hunting me. Another bus to Saint Paul Would arrive in three hours, If I was lucky.

Then the young Sioux Loomed beside me, his scars Were just my age.

Ain't got no bus here A long time, he said. You got enough money To get home on?

What did they do To your hand? I answered. He raised up his hook into the terrible starlight And slashed the wind.

Oh, that? he said. I had a bad time with a woman. Here, You take this.

Did you ever feel a man hold Sixty-five cents In a hook, And place it Gently In your freezing hand?

I took it. It wasn't the money I needed. But I took it.