Lean into it

Photo by kate.sade on Unsplash

there’s a calmness in me that treads water
and alongside me is apathy

i walk under water
not on top
in this muted world
i bob my head up occasionally
from my swampy cubicle

and apathy shrugs at me
says he could stay down in the morass and work half-ass until he’s off
he tells me the weekend means that next week is closing in fast
that it doesn’t matter — none of it — except not caring

he cares a lot about not caring
he would share his reasons
but he doesn’t care enough
he considers life a lopsided testicle
even says life is like a lopsided testicle, you never know how to sit
very Gumpian, his voice when he says it
thinks it’s funny to change movie lines in a comical way
says maybe laughing through work and play
is the only thing worth caring about
besides a shot of whiskey to whisk away the doldrums
the constant treading and the cramps that come from it
— the ticking away of the clock in all existence

and i clock out and clock back in again.

— M. R. McNeely