Me As A Cog

written By

in morning light

I load boxes onto a truck

to be delivered to distribution centers

far from here

I do this fifty hours a week

sometimes more

at the same dock

sweating and aching

I don’t make the stuff

I don’t see it in a store

to me it’s all just a box

I’m the veritable cog

without a past

with no future

completely in the moment

the same moment

over and over and over

speaking of work

this is the stuff

my poetry has to work with

if it weren’t that

someone loves me

I’d just be writing boxes

stacked and sealed

freighted to nowhere

  • John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in New World Writing, North Dakota Quarterly and Lost Pilots. Latest books, Between Two Fires, Covert and Memory Outside The Head are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in California Quarterly, Birmingham Arts Journal, La Presa and Shot Glass Journal.

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