The experts don’t want you to know
Like clickbait
That the most painful part of hopelessness
And magic tricks
Is the hope that these mediocre job openings
And nothingness
Actually do deserve the best candidate,
And you’re not it.
.
And when they got you there
Playing cards and performing
You’ll do exactly what they want
With their toe jam in your ass crack
On and off the clock and preferably off the clock
Learning to spot a fifth month out of four
Dumping fluttering streaks on a beach.
Watch the baby.
Make breakfast.
Get the girl on the bus.
Watch the baby.
Do the dishes.
Watch he baby.
Go look for a job.
Watch the baby.
He is banging the pans.
Watch the baby.
How could you not hear?
Did you feed him lunch?
Why isn’t the laundry done?
You didn’t clean up after lunch.
Why is he still in his PJs?
Pick your daughter up from school.
Watch the baby.
Did you get that interview?
I’m not your babysitter.
What’s for dinner?
Clean the damn dishes.
Watch the baby.
Why didn’t you make the girl do her homework?
Get them in the shower.
Get them to bed.
Where the hell is that job you are supposed to get?
4 Navy years, I stumbled through
Onboard electrician duties.
Sorry, it is unprofessional
To write “I” in a resume.
Someone stumbled through
Onboard electrician duties
Busting his shins on the metal edge
Of knee-knockers while tracking
Cables through the snaky mess
In the overhead brackets.
.
Then, I spent the next years
In and out of dead-end jobs.
Um… I mean…Someone
Spent those years
Building sandwiches on long rolls
And stacking vegies for customers
Who ask for no mayo only
To complain to the manager
That they received no mayonnaise,
Crawling under truck scales digging out
Buckets of dirt while hunching through
Webs and brushing off pale spiders,
And walking through the maze of
Complex apartments and around past
The boat docks where the streetlights shiver
Off the water surface because
The overcast blocks moonlight.
.
Then I… someone spent a year off
The job market. No, it’s none of
Your business. You will not hear about
The nights waking up shivering
With a chalk outline of sweat on
The sheets, pale skin and dizzy spinning
Gasps for breath half way up the stairs,
The medicated saline solution
That that drips down long plastic tubes
Into his arm, turkey baster
Syringe they hook to the base of
The IV tube to withdraw
A puff of blood into the tube
Before pushing florescent pink
Transmission oil into veins, nor
Kneeling over the toilet
Choking up the contents of breakfast
Realizing that Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Tastes the same going down as it does
Coming up. None of that is for you.
A Stephen Earley Jordan II Initiative
Inspiration and Spirituality **Award Free**
therichardbraxton 