Paul M. Strohm’s most recent poem to appear here was “Alice Fulton Always Makes Me Feel Bad” (August 2018). 

A Man Like Me
By Paul M. Strohm

One wife and four children in bed
all asleep and dreaming 4:29 a.m.
no firetrucks, ambulances or trolling cars
to disturb the rest of these lovely souls
the covers up to their chins
one child has such a wondrous smile
her face pure angelic beauty
another has a little puckered pout
tucked sweetly beneath his mouth
the wife buried under so many blankets
she seems a hoarder of the house’s heat
a covered mound of human warmth, my love
at peace with her family while I, think
how can a man like me be so blessed?