Gastown Steam Clock
Vancouver BC
I count this day: work day
Not Tuesday nor Wednesday.
The sun hides behind the ruffled clouds.
And mustard walls, penciled with industrial carpet.
The office phone rings and I look for myself.
Someone is always pushing the buttons
In the elevators & up my cheek bones.
I am growing a thick skin & ulcer stones by the hour.
I burrow into the night. My cheque comes
every two weeks. Then disappears just as quickly
As fading keys. As rain by cruel summer.
Under the ceiling, the paint slowly peels off
In weariness. I remind myself to change the lights
to an energy saving ones. I hold into hands-
Inner & invisible- to keep my wheels
from going out of yellow lanes. To set my fires afloat.
Posted for OpenLinkNight of D'verse Poets Pub - Thanks for the visit ~
I like this, Grace. I understand the idea of 'work day' --- somehow that is enough categorization for each day of the work week. Like the idea of changing lights to energy saving ones....necessary to find a way to do this in our life! Have a happy 'work day,' Grace.
ReplyDeletework day....this feels a bit like my yesterday...it was open house...meeting all the parents hearing all their needs....always someone pushing buttons...ha..i can relate as well to the disappearing check book too...i dunno where it goes at times...
ReplyDeleteGrace so many emotions arriving reading your words! So true-someone is always pushing our buttons and finding ways to carry on~
ReplyDeleteWell Done
Hope you have a happy week Grace, when you aren't in the elevator of the day's shuffle!
there's a certain weariness i can relate to... sometimes the energy is so low and i wonder how i can save some for the after work tasks..
ReplyDeleteI feel your burdens... the weight of the adult world can be gruesome at times. Hopefully the next day will be better. It's all in perspective, right?
ReplyDeleteYes, it gets easier ~ Thanks Laurie ~
DeleteYou captured the work day, and the frustrations that are so universal these days.
ReplyDeleteI feel you.
ahhh the weariness - time spent in seeming drudgery - but keep those fires afloat - it is your bright shining light for others to follow! K
ReplyDeleteThank you for the sweet words K ~
DeleteSounds like its hard to keep your head aabove water.>KB
ReplyDeleteSome days but I am okay ~ Thanks KB ~
DeleteI like the language of the work day - very fresh way of describing the trail of thoughts left in one's brain at the end of the day - a lot of floating fires - still needing to be put out. Well done.
ReplyDeleteGreat take on the life suck that the work-a-day life can be. Stumbled on the object disagreement in the penultimate stanza
ReplyDelete"I burrow into night" O yes! and the rhythm of day after workday arrives there too if "I" cannot "keep my wheels from going out of yellow lanes." Lines, color within the lines, I remember from childhood--and know this is what it was for--driving home from work, tired, ready to burrow ... remind ourselves to "set my fires afloat." Wow.
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan ~
DeleteHow this brought back memories of those days when the daily grind and feelings of obscurity followed like a mule's shadow. Now I'm all about No Work: No Money: and often times No Worries, which comes with a unique collection of roller-coaster emotions.
ReplyDeleteThat's a nice change of pace ~ Thanks K McGee ~
DeleteI feel the confinement of cubicle and the repetitious movements, mechanical. But creativeness wins out because you wrote this poem!
ReplyDeletei am growing a thick skin and ulcer stones by the hour pretty much says it allllllll. that is powerful.
ReplyDeleteDance to the Moulin Rouge
I liked the ending. Interesting usage of words which well narrates the typical life of a working person.
ReplyDeletei know this feeling, 'growing a thick skin & ulcer stones' -- so well expressed. very emotional and resonating writing, Grace~
ReplyDeleteWonderfully described, I had flashes of my days in the work force. I wish I could say the disappearing check was in the past, but now it my husband's that comes every two weeks and vanishes before we know it. :-)
ReplyDeleteI liked how you used the words to give the feel and imagery of how it seems that everything is fading and colliding at the same time. Very creative!
Thank you ~
DeleteSo.... vacation didn't quite last long enough? Not oft you pen of disharmony as such, Grace
ReplyDeleteToo short ~ Not too worry, tomorrow I will be waxing love poems ~ Smiles ~
DeleteI can feel the restlessness - well done a great piece of ou in this.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, this is my new favorite of yours, I love every line. Fabulous!
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of darkness in this piece, Grace -- I like it a lot!
ReplyDeletesuch vivid writing, Grace
ReplyDeleteThe office phone rings and I look for myself.
Someone is always pushing the buttons
In the elevators & up my cheek bones.
-love that (me too)
Very tedious feel of a work day! You put in all the realities of the day! They seem to get in each other's ways! Great take Grace and thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteHank
Bitter Sweet
ReplyDeleteUgg hate such a day here at my bay, buttons always pushed and in comes the check and out it goes. Need to win the lottery
ReplyDeleteThe work day can be hard especially when we desire to be doing something different. Ruffled clouds..I rather like that...
ReplyDeleteDoes the writing help?
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Ah... those darn yellow lines... :) Ever heard of off-roading?
ReplyDeleteAnd the days dredge on. One must find a way to keep the fires floating. Trusting that poetry is one of them! Very thought-provoking piece.
ReplyDeleteI remember those awful days of work. I love your wordplay with pushing buttons. I felt that way too. I was so there with you while reading.
ReplyDeleteGrace, the work day can be monotonous, but we must proceed. I am now just getting off work myself. Excellent description.
ReplyDeletePamela
love that last line...
ReplyDeletemay the next work day bring unexpected blessings
Work days mount and taunt...love how you ended this piece.
ReplyDeleteYes, sometimes the .work week is a like a huge sack we carry around until we are unburdened by week end...and it starts all over again...someone constantly pushing your buttons...and the seeking of self midst all the comings and goings. I hear you and share the burden. Good write! ~jackie~
ReplyDeleteAnother fine write Grace. As I am currently not working - you took me back… hmm possibly not a great thing in that respect, but I felt your pain of the drudgery of the working week.
ReplyDeleteLife. And existence.
ReplyDeleteI love how you have separated the two. I live this. And understand the real challenges behind this.
Full of good things, a most compelling poem. My favourite couplet:
ReplyDeleteThe sun hides behind the ruffled clouds.
And mustard walls, penciled with industrial carpet.
Superb!
This reminded me a lot of the days when I was working in a new city, with nothing but work taking up my day... so much so, that I wasn't able to write for a long, long time. I'm glad that those days without the ability to write didn't last for too long..
ReplyDeleteOh yes the work day and how it contrasts of those blissful days of vacation.. Still we have always to be thankful to have work these days I imagine (as I also saw in some of my comments)..
ReplyDeleteWork is blessing, I know ~ Hey, we wrote about the same theme ~
DeleteThis describes almost every day in my office LOL. Seriously though, it's a beautiful description of workplace monotany.
ReplyDeleteThis took me back to when I used to work in an office. So glad I work from home now.
ReplyDeleteTo work from home is my dream ~ I am envious, smiles~
DeleteGrace, I like how you chose the words to show nervousness at work, lines like 'Someone is always pushing the buttons', feels you're at time not comfortable at your work...,but I glad you're not absorbed deeply by it and remember 'To set my fires afloat'. Great poem!
ReplyDeleteI am trying to remember each night, thanks ~
Delete'under the ceiling the paint is peeling off'
ReplyDeleteGrace, this poetry, this line especially..that undertow of slow disintegration is so powerful, so fragile, so resonant....
Trapped in an artificial environment. Droll and repetitive perhaps, but at least you're out of the heat! I sit in the shade of a pepper tree, composing words with sweat tracing the lines in my face, but it is my choice to be here, to write, here with the birds and cicadas for audience. Too many years I stood my ground against tiled floors, florescent lights and sometimes angry faces. I'll take the heat and humidity as you remind me of the despair of those other years!
ReplyDeleteWonderful Grace! There's awesome concordances of the true & illusive ~ I sense a despair and disappointment that coils in these verses. I always learn something wonderful reading your work!
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your lovely words and encouragement ~ My pleasure to visit and read your poems ~ Happy day everyone ~
ReplyDeleteGrace, I hope your workdays improve. Nothing worse than the days like the one you so eloquently expressed above. Ugh is the word. And yet you find a way to bring us with you through it in beautiful fashion.
ReplyDeleteI so agree, Grace. I work in a cubicle and every day I have to remind myself of all the beauty around me. Smiles
ReplyDeletethe clock
ReplyDeletegrew through the vision
of her eyes
until it consumed
each ray of light
It is the most beautiful place when the wheels are re-tired...recharged and ready for the real life baby! love YA friend the words are brilliant!
ReplyDelete