Sonnet for Bob Hacken
on Tax Day 2005
I know a thing or two, I do, about this fella named Bob
Who is just about to head on out, retirin' from his job:
The reason why I know this guy is that we had the same mother,
So the family tree of genealogy tells me I'm his little brother.
One night in bed, towards my head he threw a knife my way;
But I was not tall, and it stuck in the wall; thus Bob escaped the CYA.*
After studying German, he was determined not to be a professor,
So Montgomery Ward moved him toward the money, greater or lesser.
I can't recall the retailers all with whom he plied his trade,
Whether Sears or else DeBeers were some of the Targets that he made;
‘Twixt Waukesha and Issaquah the Hackens changed their quarters**
Till somewhere fine along the line, Bob started work for Borders.
But, brother Bob, now you've quit your job, I hope you'll feel just great
Watching the flash of your stash roll in as you cash in on real estate!
- Dick & Marianne
................................................................................................................
*CYA = California Youth Authority
** Plus one recalls Great Falls,
and somewhere in between Eugene
and the palace near Dallas,
was the escrow bounty from Orange County
and more recently you went to Kent.