i wake up. third alarm.
eat cereals and milk. pack a meal.
tidy the kitchen. catch the bus. same corner seat.
drop coins for the subway train. down the metal steps.
find a seat. listen to the grating of wheels. spitting of sands.
gnashing of teeth along the worn city tracks.
office grinds. smelling of coffee & bagel. a day old.
i sit on weary chair. listen to papers shuffle. wires tripping themselves.
ink of printers & fax machines. swallowing the minutes.
there is a blankness.
swimming through my veins. polluting the liver.
clogging the nose. sharpening each paper cut on my fingers.
i wonder where this tunnel ends.
and begins. to another journey. unedited & unrestrained.
click. tick. click. snap back into the frame.
third alarm. i wake up.
Posted for D'verse Poets - Poetics: Trip the Poem - Hosted by Karin Gustafson. We are having a gorgeous weekend. Spring is finally here ~
i sit on a weary chair...there is blankness...those def bring out the grind of word...unedited unrestrained future journey...that does not sound half bad you know...smiles.
ReplyDeleteI would love to take on that journey ~ Smiles ~
DeleteSometimes it seems like the tunnel goes around in circles, I think. And the journeys repeat (at least during the work week). Have a good weekend, Grace!
ReplyDeleteYes, they do during the work week ~ Thank you Mary ~
DeleteGrace, I love what you did here--the polluted liver, the paper cuts, the wires. So visceral.
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan ~
DeleteThat's just wonderful. So many good lines in there ~ 'gnashing of teeth along the worn city tracks.' ~ 'i sit on weary chair.' ... and the punctuation works well driving home the theme. Nice piece :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Paul ~
DeleteOh dear - it is easy to get exhausted before even beginning the day! I do at times, as this pre-living - the cycle - describes so well. Thanks, Grace. k.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the lovely prompt K ~
DeleteI like how you ended right where you started from, symbolizing the daily ins and outs of life.
ReplyDeleteThank you Laurie ~
DeleteI think it's a bit much when the day-to-day grind invades your sub-conscious like this. Surely in sleep we should be allowed to visit pleasant places?
ReplyDeleteI agree Tony ~ I admit though that I daydream during the commute ~
DeleteLove "i wonder where this tunnel ends." A question many of us ask about this long, repetitive trip. Nice, Grace.
ReplyDeleteThank you Eusebia ~
DeleteHope your liver is doing well...lol...from promise to mundane to promise once more, nicely done at your shore
ReplyDeletei like that you go back to the alarm in the close...gives the whole part in between an even more unreal touch..like a space between in that tunnel with the waiting that life starts..
ReplyDeleteThe daily toil going full circle, but hey... it's weekend now, heal the papercuts and have some fun... (maybe not for the liver).. I liked this a lot.
ReplyDeleteI do have fun during weekends ~ Thank you Bjorn ~
Deleteand yet that day is life....
ReplyDeleteYes, another page in the book ~ Thanks Dezzy ~
DeleteI have such admiration for people fit enought to add the rigours of commuting to their workday.
ReplyDeleteOne often gets caught dozing back and reliving the journey, only to rush out having overslept! The trick is to get up at the first alarm and nothing can go wrong! That's what I've found out! Nicely Grace!
ReplyDeleteHank
Makes me think of the movie, Groundhog Day. Nicely done!
ReplyDeleteYou have captured an oppressive hopelessness that is scary. Really good write.
ReplyDeleteAfter two years of retirement,my husband still dreams he's at work--now that's a nightmare--you catch perfectly that kind of uneasy, nasty feeling well here, Heaven, especially the longer the poem goes on--there's a sense of malaise and confinement that is almost overpowering--and then to wake up to a reality of more of the same! At least my husband can get up and sit on the porch all morning. ;_)Really excellent writing.
ReplyDeleteHa loved this...You describe the grind very well.Weekends flash by in one second when you are working in a job you do not like.Life is too short!
ReplyDeleteWork can feel like a long tunnel travelled for all time...you capture the real groundhog day feeling well in this trip!
ReplyDeleteSuch an awful feeling of waking/not waking...of being there and not being there. This is really well written because it emulates something lots of people have gone through and you put it out there so well.
ReplyDeleteheh-heh, quite a journey and even before you started! :)
ReplyDeletei sit on weary chair. listen to papers shuffle. wires tripping themselves.
ReplyDeleteink of printers & fax machines. swallowing the minutes.
I remember this: you've caught it precisely.
That is such a disturbing experience: to dream that you've already got up. I'd feel exhausted from doing it twice, even if one of those times was just in my mind.
ReplyDelete...we shared some similar moments there Grace... the only difference was i ride bus to work... quite a long, tiring hours but it was from those moments i pondered deep on so many many things i noticed by the street... smiles... liked the new header...it looks like spring has finally come in your place... smiles...
ReplyDeleteI love my snooze alarm... i love how far those few minutes took you!
ReplyDeleteI felt it all!
ReplyDeleteWell done! How we feel our work is meaningless sometimes... I think these lines were striking:
ReplyDelete"there is a blankness.
swimming through my veins. polluting the liver. "
What if it were this void that was creating pollution inside? A blankness instead of a blackness...
LOL! Love that you went through all of that and turns out were still sleeping. Gotta love the third alarm.
ReplyDeleteGrace,
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your poetry as your words create a great image. I could really feel the journey.
Hope you are enjoying your weekend..
PS - I wanted to thank you for your helpful hints..
Such wonderful, hard hitting imagery, a dream, a nightmare, a dream, the days of our lives. Nice write!
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written, Grace. You captured well the routine of a work day. I especially like the last line - how it tied to the first and how, in so few a words, you described the work routine.
ReplyDeleteSuperb writing, Grace; love how you come full circle with it, and no wonder we are weary by the end of our journey - albeit full of gratitude, for the chances within it's framework are so expansive and we want to experience so much, good and bad till we are full.
ReplyDeleteThere is an end to the snooze button and knowing what lies ahead. It's called retirement and it ain't that grand either. But the smells if nothing else do change.
ReplyDeleteI had the same impression as "charleslmashburn"! It made me think of Groundhog Day too!
ReplyDeletelove the nitty gritty of the daily grind... and so appreciated that corner seat... a haven
ReplyDeletewow...I feel like you took me for a short spin and then bam...I woke up!
ReplyDelete