Prominent Ontologists (a poem for ordinands)

Do prominent ontologists
Recognize each other
In the liquor store
The weight of their
Being there having become
Too much to bear

Or do they wink
As they choose their drink
To soothe a back made weary
Toting the barge of our identity
Along the towpath of history
But rarely considering
The flooded canal beneath
Us borne toward the crystal sea