ABOUT THE POEM: This piece examines the emotional economics between a man and a woman through the metaphor of poverty and misvaluation. The “poor man” here is not financially poor but existentially impoverished. He knows only the value of himself, not the value of money or desire, and this ignorance leads him into a humiliating dynamic: he loves, works for, and even pays the woman, believing the exchange will give him something meaningful in return. This creates a sense of double shame—he gives everything, yet gains nothing—suggesting a deeper crisis than conventional gender roles usually acknowledge. The poem contrasts his internal emptiness with the woman’s external erosion. He doesn’t understand the “value” of what he carries—his masculinity, desire, emotional offering—while she has been so exposed to attention and desire that she no longer grasps the worth of what she offers. Her curves become casual entertainment, not currency she controls. She becomes a showroom with no owner. Together, they become participants in an unspoken business deal in which neither fully understands the product, the price, or the exchange. The man suffers from an inability to fulfill his desires; the woman suffers from a loss of inner identity caused by constant exposure. The piece portrays desire as a mismanaged economy where both sides operate bankrupt. The man sells his world—his dignity, effort, affection—because he believes value sits outside him. The woman sells herself—her body, image, allure—because value has been extracted from inside her for too long. It’s an exchange between two broken economies: one starved, one exhausted.