Staring at fluorescent screens,
letting life pass by unheeded,
little better than machines
staring at fluorescent screens,
we'll pass on our altered genes
to generations who'll be seated
staring at fluorescent screens,
letting life pass by unheeded.
I’m no poet, but I didn’t feel like coming to work today, so I thought I’d try my hand:
Day at the Office by E. Thorp
Cubicle-blank: walls and mind.
Animation: suspended. Duration: eight hours.
Lobby espresso: “The Daily Grind.”
Location: Seattle. Forecast: showers.
How about you? Vague or specific, love it or hate it, tell us a little (rhyming) bit about your work today.
The world ouside is warm and bright
But I’m in here, and the boss is uptight
I should be working, but I’m surfing the Dope
Distracts me from the cubicle taupe
Of inadequate two inch walls
Neighbor’s incessant personal calls
STFU, neighbor, please don’t talk
Lest I fill your phone with caulk
Meanwhile, Type-A boss disturbs
Spouting nouns, demanding verbs
Guess I’ll have to earn my keep
Pfft, yeah, right, I’m half asleep
Would you like to try our amuse-bouche
It’s much better for you than a douche
Or perhaps our intermezzo sorbet of the day
mango and berry flavors are orgasmic I say
followed up by our amazing seafood cart
sorry it smells like a crusty vaginal fart
have the entree it’s delicious
steak so good you’ll think we’re malicious
especially when you get the bill
and sell your soul to eat your fill
The birds are singing their seasonal odes,
the buds are bursting their tradional flows,
I look out my window and wonder anew
why oh why can’t I experience more of you?
Earth, Earth Oh sacred space,
I’ll wonder no longer as I walk out of this place.
Dismemberment and death are all that I see
Is a life of morbidity what’s in store for me?
You want to know who died sooner not later
But I cannot make heads nor tails of the dater
I’ll give you reports just as soon as I’m able
Does AnoxicEncephalopathy belong in that table?
This data indeed with I really can’t cope
So I sit here confused, just reading the Dope
I don’t have a job
I just go to school
I’m effing broke
But I guess that’s cool
My last job sucked
I really hated it
Selling cameras all day
Dealing with customers’ bullshit
I’m moving home soon
Back to the pizza table
Chainsmoking on breaks
And drinking beers if I’m able
Luckily I have a boyfriend
To pay for dinner
Lie to me more.
Say to my face that thy “roommate” is thy “friend” only,
though thine eldest child shares his name.
Convince me now that thou livest alone
though we received yet two more separate applications
from thine same apartment.
Pee on mine leg and say that it’s raining.
Oh, thou downtrodden…
I was hired to add on a room
But my future became filled with gloom
She keeps changing her mind
(For the six hundreth time)
I’ll be finishing this from my tomb
All the time I spent making that promo
Seemed to pass by like it was in slow-mo
It was done for a man who comes up with a plan
We all call him a big majordomo.
What else rhymes with promo?
*Aomo, bomo, como, domo, eomo, fomo, gomo…*nothin’.
The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round
'Round and 'round
Oh, WRITE something. Ok.
Yellow and noisy
Bringing your children to school
And then home again
Pieces of people I have in my bag
For transport to main office
Hurry oh hurry I must not lag
Skin samples beg “send me to pathologist!”
Pare a wart, pop a zit, snip a stitch perinasal
Call your number to let you know that spot on your arm was basal.
Any complaints you let me know in your most uptight tone
But when the doctor enters the room you’re in your angel zone.
An office full of women be they administrative or clinical
Can make the happiest of all of us most jaded and most cynical
I’m not a slave, no, 'tis true this job’s consensual
But I’d like to quit and run out screaming when we are all premenstrual.
Okay, I just noticed my verses don’t match but I don’t care. I’m tired. I worked all day.
