A bad poem about an interesting thing daily
April 1, 2024, Mon.—
Yo Ho, Buff Floor Buffer
Mr. Clean, a fave,
On the prow of my pallet,
Brave, but very light
My young co-worker graciously asked if it was okay if Nick worked the line with him today to hang out. Yes, please and thank you!
April 2, 2024, Tues.—
WNY Warehouse: April
Like Sunday, it’s gray,
Every day; but Tues., they
Don’t throw out your lunch
Rachel from Med Surg and me from the car at lunch in the rain, texting GIFs re: how both wanted to teleport home to the sofa.
April 3, 2024, Wed.—
Out Early for Eclipse Mon
“Remember, complete
Darkness. We will be serv-
ing/ Lunch. Also, cookies.”
Somehow, I’ve managed to work all week on kit. All day in my favorite aisle, in my favorite spot. Also, cookies.
April 4, 2024, Thurs.—
If We Moved to Philly
Could I eat only
Veggies in the land of my
People? #cheesesteaklife
Admitted extreme nerdiness to my breaktime crew re: thinking up New Yorker cartoons. Yvonne trumped a punchline, to my delight. Slowly becoming a real human, y’all.
April 5, 2024, Fri.—
unkempt secret, came
by with soup, nefarious,
bully pulpit, shame
Commented on how Tim is The General, assigning folks to a new kit aisle to complete six tickets. Happy he relieved me of my duties at 10 since I signed for OT to be sure to have off Sat.
April 6, 2024, Sat.—
Universe Cookies
Betlam’s “Success!” box,
Triple Fudge Round to
break a / 20, one Thin Mint
I told my tablemate, Anita, the universe was suddenly giving me COOKIES—rich chocolate chip from our HVAC, etc. Ten mins later another tabler offered us each a Thin Mint.
April 7, 2024, Sun.—
💐🌸🌼
Nature crafts her text,
tiny bouquets, pink petals,
yellow daisies, *send*
Walked to Highland, talked about Positivity, living with “open hands” and boundaries verses self-preservation mode, and giving until you are completely depleted. How?
April 8, 2024, Mon.—
TOTALITY
3 mins of night! / Genessee
ducks rocketed, / “Where’s the SUN!!?? Oh, there!”
I walked home from work, and met Rachel on the path. Then, we experienced the TOTALITY from U of R’s bridge over the Genesee. AWESOME.
April 9, 2024, Tues.—
Too White for Eyes
Do not look at legs
directly without special
glasses. Protect eyes.
70°s drove me to shorts! Also, coworker’s story of a family member who had a heart transplant, but continues to avoid doctors, chain smoke, and pretty much just eat baloney.
Rachel’s text reply to my legs
April 10, 2024, Wed.—
MrrrrOOOW
Helicopter feast! / Then
shadow—bright EYES,
FACES. / I shrink very still.
Kitty puma-screamed out the second floor window. A young raccoon!? We closed the cracked window “for diseases,” but otherwise let him be. He clambered down the porch at 4 am.
There was a big drift of tasty maple samaras on the roof right there …
No flash photography (we didn’t)
April 11, 2024, Thurs.—
Squirrel Snack
Pots ransacked, but just
one seed missing, lovingly
soaked, the black walnut
How would you get a goose out of a bottle without hurting it, or breaking the glass? Imagine it outside the glass. An imaginary goose isn’t bound by physics, similarly, the barriers (frameworks of belief) to a fulfilling use of your time. —Oliver Burkeman, Imperfectionist, re: productivity
April 12, 2024, Fri.—
Kitty, the Poet
That was a great sleep.
Now, the belly says “Dinner, please and thank yooOOU.”
Do cafe folks bond because of customers? Because 50 of us on the am shift vs each other can be—wow.
“The ratio of one-to-one doesn’t justify the effort: it’s the echo that counts. … Therefore, steal, or still, the echo, so that you don’t allow an event, however unpleasant or momentous, to claim any more time than it took for it to occur.”
… “Rush through or past them as though they were yellow and not red lights. Don’t linger on them mentally or verbally; don’t pride yourself on forgiving or forgetting them—worse come to worse, do the forgetting first.”—Joseph Brodsky re: detractors, via James Clear
April 14, 2024, Sun.—
Two Creepy Co-Workers
they avert their eyes (?)
like I’m Medusa, but with
hardly any hair
My Lyft driver this morning actually lived in our house as a teenager in the 80s. I tried to think of what mystery he could solve in 12 minutes (do you guys remember getting a new roof?) but I realized he just wanted to remember it. “How did the stairs go?” I told him the gold and green stained glass window in the dining room was still there. “I’ll have to tell my mom,” he said, fondly.
Pranking Megyn, my Cutie for her Cara Cara
April 15, 2024, Mon.—
Shared Ranch
Ask that lady to
sit with us! It wasn’t my
plan to get her Ranch
It was just that kind of midnight: “To all of you watching here, come close to the screen and listen. People don’t have to like you” … (love or respect). “But when you look in the mirror, you better love what you see.” —Sheryl Lee Ralph (via Tumblr), Critics Choice Awards 2023, Best Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series
Ducks paddling the Canal Path
April 16, 2024, Tues.—
Home Pepsi Energy
If I had cracked two
Pepsis from the tool cooler,
This haiku would rock
The “Line’s” a little weird for me, socially. I focus in, and it’s hard to chat. But, I did learn that my partner today, the Line’s Shaolin Monk (its creator), only drinks Pepsi. And he and his girlfriend have a mini fridge shaped like a toolbox in their bedroom, and his half is Pepsi, and her half is Coke. “Like Romeo and Juliet,” I said. We cracked two grins.
I knew Pepsi was his spirit animal pre-anecdote
April 17, 2024, Wed.—
The Faces of Cats
All the sad faces. / The
faces of cats. Who wears / their secrets on sleeves?
They were Googling ridiculous stuff at lunch, and I said “You’d be chased by dogs,” and got a genuine laugh from everyone, and it made Wednesday worth it. Then, tired, I went home and fussed because Rachel didn’t eat a Luna Bar. Ugh.
I’m going to regret Googling, “Sweatshirt lots of cat faces”
April 18, 2024, Thurs.—
OMG the New Hires
Lady, be careful,
scooting across conveyor
belts. ‘did I just see?
People were commenting corny avatars on a college mate’s FB post, and as Rachel is studying psych, what’s a “flat aspect,” and where did all of my actual facial expressions go?
Also, the post:
April 19, 2024, Fri.—
Beer with Mamet
Juxtapositions
of cuts tell the story like
I would at this pub
“Women artists … made their art on the back porch, they made it on top of the washing machine … anywhere they could, for the hour and a half while their kid was taking a nap, and for the two hours while they were at the play group. They made it in between …. There was no time … for the ritual of getting into your work! You just snapped into that taking 10 minutes and making 3 lines on your drawing or whatever was possible.”—Eleanor Coppola via Austin Kleon
April 20, 2024, Sat.—
I’ve watched this lady post New Yorker-style cartoons for years; I love her joy and totally get it.
Park Avenue, Rochester
Violet skies make / new
greens so bright, we agree, goose-pimpled and blue
Alternately grumpy, laughing at the Public Market, Baker St. Bread, walking Park, the Tool Shed tool share (not open), watching Crossfit devotees overexert in the Tim Horton’s parking lot (sign front blown off to look like a poo emoji of white lights), Aldi, cuddling (40°), looking back over Rachel’s IG of our New York City life. ❤️
April 21, 2024, Sun.—
Also, Fuck Sticky Traps
Fuck your sticky traps.
That’s all I’ve got to say in
my short time on earth.
Rob pointed out the pigeon tangled in the nets above crew out. The ball of feathers hung perfectly still. Primo (bless him), tentatively got the rolling step ladder to free him, so I volunteered. But the gray guy flapped free, landed on a step, then took off as I poised to scoop to take him outside. I failed at the rhythm. Ugh. Find an open dock, please! Avoid nets.
I was putting on Primo’s gloves, and M. rolled by on a small forklift.
“She’s a Grade 1 Falconer.”
Primo: “Really?”
Wow, this meal—tumeric cauliflower, more pennies and dollars than New Year’s Day
April 22, 2024, Mon.—
Sedated Finger Nerves
Dee Ramone’s own words,
“I cannot *feel my fingers
Oh, no, oh-oh, oh-“
The main conveyor belt snapped an hour before end of shift, so M in sanitation loaded all the tubs onto CHEP pallets to motor to me. I deconstructed the vibrant monoliths and dispersed them to their pallets. Where was my partner? Reassigned to pick tubs. Where was the load boss? Negotiating C’s release.
The difference between this and restaurants, though, is I still clocked out at 2:28.
*Control, but poetic license. Also, Rachel accidentally took the cork trivet to class.
April 23, 2024, Tues.—
Not Getting it in
Sadly, I must pause
everyday posts, until I
can also draw, write
I worked with the Shaolin Monk of the Line again. At 2:20 pm, him: “That went really well.” Me: “That wasn’t stressful.” And then, from him, “Good job, today.” Yesssss.
Also, a chat with another co-worker—the warehouse fishbowl really, really fucks with people, and I guess it was getting to me, too.
Hello, babby leaves
April 24, 2024, Wed.—
Hit Send, Warehouse
Glue to paper, twist
wire to plastic tote, push
to steel stream, release
Back to kit today, but one more thing from yesterday—the last dozen tubs of Wave 5 rolled down the conveyor like a clock with 30 seconds between each. I asked the Line Monk why that happened, and he guessed that it was the time it took the worker to wire on each manilla shipping tag, label and send.
We love O-U-T
April 25, 2024, Thurs.—
50 in the Warehouse
Day sweats are welcome
at W___, as long as I
wear deodorant.
So, I need to put these daily updates on hiatus or it’ll be the only thing I write or draw this year.
x
In honor of my dental appt tomorrow, the tooth I see in the conveyor belt