Afternoons at work

City Lights

I sit and think.

Think and smile.

Smile and process the paperwork on my desk.

I get lost in the work – finding myself “Commencing at a point of tangency at Station 19+38.99 on the centerline of . . .”

Orifice Testing Site

Coming up of air, just enjoying the quite of the office – Nina Simone, Johnny Cash, and the Dubliners keeping me company.

The hours tick by. Pencils are sharpened, maps are drawn, and boundary lines adjusted.

I drift off in the middle of a legal description, and find that I have jumbled the last three lines together.

The lights buzz overhead, and I can smell lunch being made in the senior center.

Orifice Plate Thing

I sit and smile.

I just want to be quiet.



So I sit there and process the work on my desk.

I sit there and smile and think.

Think of everything – of pictures, and classes, and brakes, and starters, and phone calls.
Think of graduation, and work, and jobs, and Soma, and friends.
Think of sisters, and Christmas, and coffee, and fish eye lenses.
Think of dirty laundry, and dishes, and bills.
Think of traffic light warrants, and total stop times, and baklava
Think of clam chowder, and home, and wood floors.
Think of raincoats, and heated blankets, and heavy curtains, and sealant.

PF

And I smile and think and smile the day away.