The People, the People

Peter Mladinic

In The Harder They Fall,

Rod Steiger is a politician,

Humphrey Bogart, a journalist.

They’re in Rod’s high rise, cornered

at a table in a small kitchen,

out the window, other high rises.

Rod’s dinner is getting cold.

Bogey, in blazer and bow tie,

asks, What about the people?

Rod gets up. In white shirt sleeves

rolled, he opens his meaty

hands, “The people, the people,

they come home at night,

fill their bellies full of beer

and fall asleep in front of the TV!”

Bogey disagrees. But there’s truth

in Rod’s spiel, superbly fired off,

as intense as his silence

in the cab in On the Waterfront,

when Brando says,

“I could’ve been a contender.”