No longer claiming the prominent place

I’d taken for granted among the B list

politicians and self-proclaimed opinion

influencers in our minor city

along the lower Neches, I struggled

to discover a second chance in various

volunteer community projects,

found the field overcrowded with formerly

important opinion peddlers, until you

suggested, after a few of my false starts,

that I retire into my retirement

and yield the field to other failures.