Hi, Rick—
This poem really challenges me. I get glimmers of light through the opacity of some of the language. It seems to me to be a lament for dying civility and the American sense of community, which is being replaced by a simmering sense of tribal grievance. The anti-social character whose behavior would have merited a 911 call a generation ago is now a typical MAGA Republican. I supposed that the reference to Queequeg, the Polynesian harpooner in Moby-Dick, is the tattooed man in the title. The last four lines baffled me. Tricking the tray is a kind of low-budget fundraiser, but the Captain’s Tower (another Melville reference?), Valerie, Vivian, and the Teenage Patrolmen stumped me. Help!
Glenn
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