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Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

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© by Nellie Hill

Selling Techniques
Language: English 
He loves to watch himself
standing naked before the mirror
doing business on the telephone.
Each action is deliberate:
he bows and smiles while speaking
to his customers as if he's dealing
with himself.  His minor flaws
don't bother him, the pot belly,
the baggy chin, he looks right over them
to the powerful swagger he's developed,
the commanding sweep of his arm.

She loves to watch him.
She lies there on the bed,
her hands folded on the pillow
behind her head, and she smiles
at his act; and then she joins him,
her long skinny body next to his fat one,
the telephone between them.  He continues
talking, selling someone something,
while she imitates every bow in the mirror,
every sweeping motion.

Text Authorship:

  • by Nellie Hill , "Selling Techniques", appears in Having Come This Far, first published 1977, copyright © by Nellie Hill, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Christopher Berg (b. 1949), "Selling Techniques", from Two Poems by Nellie Hill, no. 2. [ sung text verified 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2017-06-22
Line count: 21
Word count: 124

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