[Terese Coe]

N has a bad case of terminal vanity, and doesn't get how to come on to a (presumably younger) woman banker in tight jeans. Will he ever figure it out? Presumably not. Squeezing her knee and calling her "dear" (to Brits, I know "dear" and "darling" come more naturally, but in the US they're something of a deal-breaker in many circumstances that involve younger women--unless you're much much older, and of course that brings on another all-too-pitiable iffiness) are further indications that N is dangerously past his shelf-life where younger women are concerned. Those facts alone could be handled in a more amusing way, but not in a poem this long. The subject is too slight for the ballade form. It gets repetitious.

PS. re MaryBeth's question, no of course everyone didn't behave in a professional manner toward professional women (they were a rare breed at one time) in the days let's say of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Or even the 80s, 90s, and 00s...It has been an excruciatingly slow process, and at times appears to be (and is!) going backwards. FWIW. I agree with Raj that This poem might have been improved, I think, if it betrayed a more explicit awareness of its "real" subject.

That "real" subject is the quality of being at a loss for how to behave in a changing world, the quality of being left behind. N takes refuge in his wardrobe. That's supposed to be amusing but I'm afraid I find nothing but pathos in it; it's not funny because it's pitiable rather than eminently deserving of compassion. There is no universality here, no sense of "laughing with" the speaker. I wish the final line had some real power--that would help a lot. With revisions, this could show some heft and humor.