The Men That Don't Fit In

The Men That Don't Fit In is a poem Perry Smith presents as his own when he gives it to Cookie as an explanation for saying goodbye. Its portrait of people who cannot settle, who roam and wound those close to them, lends a memorable shape to his departure while leaving open the difference between a self-description and an excuse.

The Poem's Idea of Restlessness

The poem describes a kind of person unable to remain in one place: he ranges across landscapes and leaves hurt among family and intimates. Restlessness appears not simply as a preference but as a defining condition, even a curse. That framing makes departure seem almost inevitable, while acknowledging its cost to the people left behind.

A Farewell to Cookie

Perry gives the poem to Cookie after meeting her while hospitalized following a motorcycle accident. She had liked him, pitied and cared for him, and encouraged him to read what he regarded as serious literature. Love and marriage had entered their conversations. When his injuries had mended, he said goodbye and offered the poem as his explanation, pretending that he had written it. The poem thus serves as a substitute for a fuller account of why he was leaving: it makes separation legible as part of a restless identity rather than a choice he explains directly.

The Poem's Later Echo

Perry never saw or heard from Cookie again, but years later he had her name tattooed on his arm. When Dick asked who she was, Perry described her as someone he had nearly married. His response sits beside his envy of Dick, who had been married twice and had three sons. Perry regarded marriage and children as experiences a man ought to have, even though he believed they had not made Dick happy or done him any good. Against that longing for a settled life, the poem's account of the man who cannot stay gives Perry a language for leaving—but does not erase the attachment the tattoo preserves.