Jake's Flea Market

Between wars, soldiers might turn to highway robbery to supplement their income. In this fiction, Horatio councils John George to find a highwayman who has stolen things to sell--- the intent is not to buy, but to recruit….

xiv

today
before someone
the virgin queen of england say
receives a letter that 
proposes nora’s dowry for one of her nephews

go   sit
with a corner of the black eagle to your back

and to your face
beakers on every table and 

at every table
a drinker to every beaker

look at a man
then look at a man who plays cards
then look at another who rolls dice   find

one who has for sale a 
mink lined mantle stolen from a patrician
a velvet tunic stolen from a duke
embroidered breeches stolen from a lord
silk hose stolen from a merchant   say

to yourself   this is one
who holds blades to the throats
of those who walk on the road back from the wars