The Spiral
There, job applications are all done. I sigh. Now, I just need to wait.
Any relief I might've felt is short-lived, lost in a whirlwind of thoughts. When will I get the call? Who will call? What will they be like? What will my soon-to-be coworkers be like? Will I be able to keep up with them? Will I be able to do everything without getting overwhelmed? What about the customers themselves? Will they make this retail hell, or mostly bearable?
Everything is unknown, unpredictable. There is no peace of mind. Not until I get the call.
But even then...
The taste on my tongue
lingers
in some impossible realm,
Incubated and frozen
between
the bitter and the sweet.
Only in this anticipation
of no expectation
can my hope survive,
my will can remain alive.
It is all about the balance,
the limbo
of limbic proportions,
I am to remain here,
I believe,
For infinite eternity,
the breath held-
Caught between the taste in
the cloying saltiness,
Like that of the wife-legend of Lot;
the shifting of flesh
the moment before
the pillar was formed.
Hot Breath
“My thick skull resonates my mothers voice, "Why so many keys? Keep it simple stupid."
C'mon, C'mon. Teeth chattering, and hands trembling, I’m frantically fumbling through my key-ring. Too many useless fuckin keys, god damnit. His figure enters the alley—Shadow lurking. The dingy street light is no help to find my front door lifeline. The groaning wind numbs my frozen fingers. His ominous whistle gets louder, closer. Weeping with fear, my nose pours out its snot. I screech. No, No, No. My keys suddenly stop shaking. The hair on my neck stands tall. He whispers.
"Kaattiieee, it‘ll be over soon."
the wait
For me waiting has always been associated with unpleasantness. Interminable waits in doctor's offices or hospital waiting rooms where life becomes frozen except for the anxious working of the mind fighting with itself to stay strong and positive while anticipating inevitable disappointment. This waiting is torture for the mind and spirit, life stops completely with no relief until my name is called. But that is only a brief respite, I'm taken to another room and made to wait again. After it seems like it will never happen the Doctor finally appears and apologizes for "the wait", I say "no problem."
Faith waits
I am waiting to have a dream like Martin, seeing sons and daughter in collective shapes of hand in hand. No placards of protest needed to assert our obvious progresses not yet achieved.
I am waiting for the wonder of together standing to be noted for its norm.
I want us to be for granted that, we are the dream and the waiting for that dream to be the nightmare long ago dispelled.
I am waiting for feeling empathy has transcended, that touch is an unbreakable embrace.
I am waiting for divinities perfection to purify me and who I am.
Experiencing the Wait
A red light.
Color often means nothing in our lives, but when it comes to vehicles and laws, they suddenly mean everything.
The light stays red.
You’re there for a while, and you ponder the consequences if you go ahead. There’s no cars that’ll hit you, and you have some place to be. Just drive ahead a couple feet, all you have to do.
The light’s red for far too long.
What have you waited for? You’re out of time now. You’ve been done.
When the light changes, you speed as you can, but you’ve missed the event. Too late.
Waiting on a Woman
I wait at work
Wait at the store
Waiting, waiting
One minute more
The bank, the Vet
The DMV
Wait while they all
Stare at me
The Dr's office
I spend some time
There never seems to
Be a short line
To take a flight
They move so slow
The TSA
Puts on a show
But most of the time
I wait at home
Or in the car
When we go roam
For woman does not
Wait for man
They have their own
Master plan
So, mostly I
Just sit a wait
On my true love
My bride, my mate
The promotion that never came
12 long years, waiting for the next promotion.
The ‘friendly’ comment I heard most often “You don’t mean that? 12 years? Why are you still here?” Or rather what is wrong with you?
And to be honest, I didn’t know.
But what I also didn’t know was what I gained in those 12 long years.
A mature attitude, patience, a can-do attitude that would help me survive in the jungle of the next job.
What did come was a self-belief thicker than a bear’s skin.
What did come was knowledge that helped me ace the odds in the next job.
The Story in the Sky
Whether it be waiting for your mom to finally stop peering at things in the store or waiting in the line for school lunch, there is always a story to find. Looking up at the cloudy sky, you can find queens and a lizard-mouse hybrid. Waiting can become so very magical when you see things not as they are but what they could be.