Running for Your Life: A “Hump Day” Poem

A Profession *

By Jamie Baxter

The most dangerous kind of waste is the waste we do not recognize.

-        Shigeo Shingo

Thank you for giving me this opportunity          in the world of work

I will endeavor    I will strive   I’ve put hands on parts of my body

and committed   It is a noble pastime to work   few would disagree

though some might shun   not I   Recognizing my own potential

I have become a corporate citizen   The office square fills with workers

at lunch   wandering from their desks into the highest point of the sun

though often in the form of rain   Some days I staple my work to my desk

so I can slowly unpick it   There’s so much to look forward to

like watching Thomas fail    What a thrill it is      not being Thomas

His eyes back    from the bathroom blare     I save files and am constantly

printing or making notes at easily remembered meetings      Sometimes I strip

in the toilet cubicle   only to redress     but there is a moment

I care very deeply about this company    whose name     I will research

My lunch is almost ready to be removed from the photocopier    What a thrill

to receive so many different looks during the course of a day   from the same set

of people     I am very focused on being here    My emails are always leaving

and move through the one language I know     and few others

I’m vaguely aware of    I’m always being asked for advice   how did you

get a job here      how do you define failure or success     When the red

of the clouds fades to pink during the 4 o’clock winter sunsets and everyone gathers

by the windows to take in the view I tut and shout    make sure they get back to work

I’m always making coffee       and throwing it away   I don’t drink coffee

* London Review of Books, Feb. 8, 2018

Next: Running for Your Life: Lock And Free