The Daily Breath - Wednesday, May 18, 2022

 

 

May 18

 

SHORT BYTE No. 7 (1963)

 

Court Reporter

A job in which

People’s voices

Go in your ears

And come out your

Fingers

 

When I first went to work

In the Oakland Municipal Court

I was very interested in the drama

Of the human condition

But after six years

And hundreds of cases of

Rape murder drug abuse

And seeing young

Mostly black teenagers

Get thrown in prison

Get out of prison

Get arrested again

Becoming increasingly

Disillusioned

And hardened

It lost its charms

 

 

More Wednesday (present day)

 

I stayed home while

Mark went to Fairfield

To meet with Yessie

To talk about

Medicare

Sometimes it feels

As though

Certain problems

Will never be solved

The hoops we have to

Jump through

Can drive a person

Crazy

 

SHORT BYTE No. 8 (1965)

 

The inanity of sanity

Dear me what te-

dium I must contend with

I wish there were a bever-

age I could unbend with

I watch the clock, I feel the block-

ing of my nerves, recoiling

The hands won’t move. For whose approv-

al am I humbly toiling?