Posted in Rituals

Just for You

Posted on by tq1695

I employed him
he was young and newly child-ed
grateful
cooperative
malleable.

Chefs : temperamental, insubordinate, overweight, drunken
he was none
maybe a little pudgy
all that tasting
but the peace – after the last one.

It was the hours he said
early morning to just afternoon
perfect,
no nights or weekends,
no split shifts.
No diminished days.

After I left
his performance declined
no credit could be awarded to the old reign
or blame to the new.
It was just time –
amortized commitment,
depreciated truth,
more became less.

Management took the pulse – efficiency experts
“nothing for him to worry about – 15 out of 10.”
After the report, they offered choice.
Redundancy,
or restructured position –
Wednesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 7:00 p.m.

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Author:

Most of my life has been spent on the bench, occasionally called into the game by extravagance or attenuation. Waiting has turned a loner into a recorder - nondescript and inconsequential, more not noticed than overlooked - the non-vantage point of children not yet considered old enough to understand. Orphaned Islands (Un)poetry is a lifetime of picking anecdotes up and not throwing them away. Stories collected like odds and ends placed in a box in the basement, the garage, the garden shed - uncertain as to what their use might be but knowing that one day there might be one.