i wonder: can a person be more than work
[ ] a resounding [ ] : [ ] i don’t know [ ] yes sir no sir never ever absolutely not not even in the loviest-doviest dream not even in a hell frozen over thawed and now on fire
i confess: it’s not all bad
even at that restaurant / the only job i ever walked out of / owner cruel as snakes / i put a box in the dumpster / that ginger medusa made me crawl into it to take it back out / brush off the maggots like white sparks falling from flint / i regret that i did it before i took that apron off me
but the chef was kind / called me Grigio / a sweet nickname for that dried up bottle of me / he:
made me pasta / sat me where her security cameras, her callous eyes
could not see / i could eat there and she could not deduct it from me
i only said goodbye to him / he only said to me “You don’t belong here.”
if not there where / the office then / the duller end / the sacred everyday: traffic tv coffee creamer coworkers with kids
he was right
i didn’t belong there / nor did he
human dignity must be
dug up from our tentative tombs / not oil dug up, consumed / we spend death in excess to buy back life / barely enough to presume a person
will survive this weekend
this world’s end / we need
our hands to open / tight fists
hold only our cocks and our coins / how many dollars does it cost us to keep on begging:
please sir / give us this day our daily dose
of some things to do
but please overlord / leave us this orb living
and saved / leave time to wander, to wonder as
a human / being is anything but [ ]
Grayson Del Faro was born on Ute, Goshute, and Shoshone land. His work has appeared in The Evergreen Review, Ragazine, zwischentext, and is forthcoming from Rejected Lit and SPECTRA Poets. He's also the author of The Sagas and Shit: Icelandic Literature Crudely Abridged (Forlagið 2019) and editor of Mutilations on a Theme: Best Innovative College Writing (Jaded Ibis Press 2015). He is currently based in Barcelona.
Instagram @graykjavik