Justin, my nighttime boss (why does that sound dirty?) has declared my daytime work to be “essentially, doing nothing”. While this is not really accurate, I will play along, and attempt to capture the essence of office workers engaging in moments of daytime nothingness. And I choose to do so in haiku.
In the next Census
I will write: Occupation?
“Surfer” (internet)
Afternoon crawls by
Like a man with broken legs:
Slow, painful, dragging
In my office-womb
Hours expand like a mother’s
Stomach before birth
Watching digital
Time pass, I miss analog,
Seconds ticking by.
Essemtially, you DO do nothing in that job. I know this first-hand.
However, it is kinda challenging to see if anyone will notice if you have a nap in your chair in the afternoon…so hard to stay awake when the sun shines in the window….zzz…
EsseNtially. And first hand.
Jesus. Where is Mrs. Mahon, my grade 12 enriched English teacher??
slipping in my chair
I doze, mousing hand awake,
brain turned off for good
um, how about, “like a mother’s cervix before birth.” the stomach line is a bit too vague. also, the cervix expansion is painful; the stomach expansion not so much. (i love my shrinky stretch marks!)
will you be working on saturday?
In my office-womb
Hours expand like a mother’s
Stomach before birth
I must defer to you as the authority on all things birth-y, especially when you consider the fact that I couldn’t locate my cervix with a map and a mirror on a long stick.
Although, in my own defense, I feel I have used my poetic license appropriately: the use of ‘stomach’ instead of ‘cervix’ emphasises the external/internal viewpoint I was looking for.
Pregnant stomach = imperceptibly slow visible expansion, concealing seething turmoil within, after which one will never go back to being quite the same way. This is precisely how I feel about work. Serene exterior belies tumultuous, churning innards, and my brain now has its own stretch marks that may never ever go away, even if I quit the office tomorrow.
I will indeed be working Saturday; I’m at the store from 1pm-7:30pm and am going to see Christie and Amy after. Come to the Snail and visit! Bring Sprout! (are we still allowed to call him that, or should I use his real name?)
stretch marks are totally underrated…now that my stomach has shrunk back to something approaching pre-pregnancy size, they give it a really fun texture. it’s like being a squishy ribbed sweater!
we will try very hard to get there. i need to get out of this town!
i still call him sprout, but usually only in writing. i hardly ever use his “real” name – it’s not like i can get his attention that way.