Tuesday, February 23

She Just Wants

Two poems by Beverly Rollwagen,
from She Just Wants.

Employed

She just wants to be employed
for eight hours a day. She is not
interested in a career; she wants a job
with a paycheck and free parking. She
does not want to carry a briefcase filled
with important papers to read after
dinner; she does not want to return
phone calls. When she gets home, she
wants to kick off her shoes and waltz
around her kitchen singing, "I am a piece
of work."

Essential

She just wants to keep her essential
sorrow. Everyone wants her to
be happy all the time, but she doesn't
want that for them. There is value in
the thread of sadness in each person.
The sobbing child on an airplane, the
unhappy woman waiting by the phone,
a man staring out the window past his
wife. A violin plays through all of them,
one long note held at the beginning and
the end.

3 comments:

The Bug said...

Love these! I am so totally Employed. I never wanted a career - long hours, lots of responsibility. I want to work my 8:30 - 5:00 & then just go home & chill. I want to like my job (I do), & I'd prefer to feel proud of the business I'm in (I'm not), but other than that, I'm content with not being an earth-shaker.

Katy said...

I'm the same way. As a paralegal I often say the best thing about my job is that I'm not lawyer.

Jo said...

Both of those poems described my life -- exactly.

I loved them.