The Calculator

A calculator is rendered useless if it loses just one key

enter the absence of number 9

time to toss it in the can

Can’t say the same for people

one missing means not much

replacements in the wings

Embrace me my sweet embraceable you

Embrace me you irreplaceable you

Ain’t exactly true

simply a fact of life

That morning I sat on my own, happiest I’d been

CONQUERED THIS DAMN YEAR I thought

I was proud

I was smug

and serene

Horoscope on my side

nonsense knitted into knowing

lucid, distilled, and apt

Waves of wisdom washed over me

(Imagine, dear reader, if this came at you!):

Your uncertainty is not a sign of instability

more representative of resiliency

You’ve been working closely with details

perhaps too closely

(It’s true! Who wouldn’t love that shit?)

You’ve been distracted from the larger plan

now your panoramic view of life returns

Something about Neptune, and then:

It’s a turning point

(Oh yes–definitely the best part)

And where did that morning go?

Marched into work

to loudly proclaim

I’m throwing out my calculator

the Progressive era is gone

A victory so sweet

Soon realized I needed a new one

I couldn’t march out the door

Such is the life of a beggar begging

Then the lights went out in the building!

I barely took a break

called my mom in a darkened office

she didn’t answer the phone

couldn’t heat my f-ing coffee

couldn’t yet slow down

you’ve been distracted from the larger plan

details perhaps too closely

A thousand-paper-cut death

is just exactly that

I thought: how do I bust my ass free?

Nothing to do with that calculator

something to do with this pen

♦