Alden Nowlan’s poem “Warren Pryor” tells the story of a boy from an impoverished family, but whose parents worked tirelessly to “free him” (3) from their poverty by sending him to school. At his graduation, his parents are ecstatic, “[blushing] with pride” (5), because his diploma can now serve as a “passport” to get away from his humble beginnings and find economic and personal success (7-8). However upon acquiring this perceived success, getting himself a job at the bank, being the type of suave young professional who “[wears] a milk-white shirt / work days and jeans on Sundays” (10-11), he becomes “hard and serious (13). The poem ends with a description of the man’s “axe-hewn hands upon the paper bills / aching with empty strength and
