Office Space

Here's another poem that I've finally edited enough to be shareable. It's about the three rooms at school that were most "mine."

I am a spare office at the end of the hall

A shared space, scattered with the chaos

Of other people’s forgotten paperwork:

File-folders stacked in star patterns

Textbooks – catalogs – cabinets with drawers that stick –

A light switch behind a cupboard

That can only be reached by stepping through

The wire frames of disassembled shelves.

I am the unsorted books of the new library

With Dewey Decimal spines and no place on the shelf

Scattered with frustration when someone wants a specific book,

Never given a second glance afterwards,

As I sit, collecting dust and pollen.

I am the “science room,” fluid space

Ordered and reordered by someone else’s whim –

A convenient empty dumping ground –

Used often enough to collect distended experiments

But not enough to make upkeep worthwhile.

The flotsam and jetsam of a busy school –

Broken tables, desks, and Petri dishes

Line the walls to wait for

Dental exams, flu shots, and reading services.

I am the scientific method, almost followed.

I am the alpha-numeric code, striving to be understood.

I am the .pdf on the computer, that explains the world

Unopened because no one here has Acrobat.