Office

Like Zoo babies, born in captivity

know no wilderness

exists

Does the fly

high on the fifteenth floor

ignore

the tinted windows

as if a painting

of one dimension

not to mention

alley cats, stray dogs, the homeless

whose living room

is larger

than life-in the city

the concrete jungle is overgrown

with wildlife

wanting to escape

the vast unknowns.

Image credit by Carol M. Highsmith, 'The Transamerica Pyramid is the tallest skyscraper in the San Francisco, California, skyline and one of its most iconic" in Public domain c. 1980-2006, via Wikimedia Commons. 

10 Things I Never Do (Today)

The 10 things I NEVER do (today) include:
                                              Clock-in-OR
                                              Clock-out-is that two?
                                              Wear nylons-
                                               Paint my lips-
                                               Say 'Yessir' or commute, anywhere, ever
around about noon
halfway through                    I stop listening, change the channel,
                                              fine tune the static ring
in the melody of midday melancholy
nothing important is this bright
no reason to wait until its safe
to come out, face it, say it, bleed out-Out with it!
Sleep tight,
at midnight
as the schedule shows
                                            I sleep lucidly dreaming.
                                            I dream the life of a poet.
                                            I live in the lucid poets dream.

*This poem was composed as a response to the poem by Ted Berrigan, 10 Things I Do Every Day.
Composed 11/12/15.
Image by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, The Earrings, 1891. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.