grin​

​

​

I have a little room

where I wait

to not be in my little room.

 

The work is estimable,

the benefits superb.

 

I tell the truth.

I am happy with my job.

 

Some days I want anaesthesia,

I really do.

And I’m happy with my job.

 

Stick any preposition in there.

 

For example I’m happy at my job.

 

And I’ll tell you straight—

I’m happy under my job.

 

For example

a woman with cancer

asked about me personally

and I lit up.

 

I was glad to

have the opportunity to

show restrained compassion.

She reminded me

of someone I know.

 

My grandpa is blind and

he has great mossy eyebrows.

He has a soft voice and reads

with his hands.

 

I work at an eye clinic.

 

During a quarterly meeting,

some technicians

asked for a script to help

deal with difficult patients.

My friend was broken

up with.

I found I didn’t

consult the script.

 

I see people

get better all the time.

It’ll get better for him, too.

 

Fabric fish hang

from sticky hooks on the wall;

numerous patients love them.

 

For example when I say,

“Look at this blue light”

patients ask,

“With which eye?”

 

Few people can control

their eyes separately.

I am not a hand technician

where maybe that is a concern.

 

I like my job.

I learn new things

and old things.

 

For example the fish

artisan also

wove some

Bible verses

probably.

 

The chairs are mostly uncomfortable

so I work on my posture.

 

I get paid for all this sitting

and writing poetry.

 

In truth, I get paid for

everything else.

 

Most people are old.

For example everyone has eyes.

 

Birds chirp

on the way to work

if I don’t

play music.

 

If I don’t

play music

there are

the clinic walls

full of art.

 

If my thoughts are stilted

they are precise.

For example

if I am precise

I bring home

bacon.

 

I do not consider my job

part of my day,

though I’m happy with my job.

 

I consider my morning

when my wife picks me up.

 

One cannot eat raw

bacon so we cook it

together.

 

I consider my birthday

when I met her

on a bridge

over a lake

under trees

and sky

and northern stars.

 

I am not bored.

I like my job.

 

I have learned enough

boredom

becomes the very opposite.

 

For example not everyone has eyes.

Either way, we can help.

 

A new frontier

between each moment

has opened.

 

The seconds are long;

the days are a minute.

 

I joke I’ll

wake up

retired.

 

For example look at these wrinkles.

 

I have many

bottles

of hand sanitizer

left.

 

I have even more

alarm clocks.