MAN UP

I quit graduate school in Minnesota,
Because I thought they didn’t appreciate me,
Or how clever I was planning to be.
But I still had rent to pay,
So I spent several days filing half sheets of paper,
By Social Security number.
8 hours a day.
Nearby several ladies worked and talked,
Doing similar things involving data entry and the like.
I put my head down and prayed for the hours to pass,
Filled with my high notions that this was only temporary.
I was miserable.
It was only as the hours passed,
That I became aware of their gentle laughter and joy,
Their sharing of stories from the weekend,
Their lives interwoven in words,
Collectively seeking to make sense of things in their world,
How to get that stain out of the table cloth,
Why the dryer wasn’t drying,
The kid that won’t listen,
The car that wouldn’t start,
How to get someone to cut the grass,
These things that made up the lives of everyone,
I was a part of this now,
Like it or not,
I needed to man up and file.