16 Work Songs

Read-read-read
note-note-note
footnote the soul of a mole in a coat
Ink-ink-ink
scratch-scratch-scratch
argue ‘bout the meaning of the word dispatch
Mark-mark-mark
quote-quote-quote
stack your sources ‘til the shelves revolt

Our coffee’s black as our funding gap
our deadlines bend like a yoga map
We publish thoughts no one will heed
but glory’s in the planted seed

Work-work-work, until the thought gets weird
debate the length of an unseen beard
Draft-draft-draft, then tear the page
we’re the chorus and the cage

We mine in texts nobody reads
stacking scrolls like ancient reeds
A grant’s a dragon guarding lore
you flatter it, it gives you more

Work-work-work, till the candles die
rewrite the truth with a scholar’s lie
Proof-proof-proof till the moon’s been spun
and toast to the joy of the kingdom of Some

Ink-stained hands and a mind half-mad
argue with ghosts you never had
Measure the weight of a metaphor’s bone
and carve your thesis into stone

Trade your hours for immortal lines
digging through dust for half-formed signs
Argue ‘til dawn on a point obscure
declare the riddle “still unsure”

Who holds the key to the scholar’s vault?
"We do! We do! It’s all our fault!"
Who stacks the scrolls ‘til the shelves cave in?
"We do! We do! Let the work begin!"

Push-push-push the ink along
sing-sing-sing the unwritten song
laugh-laugh-laugh at the scholar’s jest
then bind it in the Book of Rest
Dig-dig-dig through the dusty mind
find-find-find what the rest won’t find

Work-work-work, until the thought gets weird
debate the length of an unseen beard
Draft-draft-draft, then tear the page
we’re the chorus and the cage

And when the ink runs dry at last
we drink to the future
and footnote the past
Read-read-read
Write-write-write

Work-work-work, until the thought gets weird
debate the length of an unseen beard
Draft-draft-draft, then tear the page
we’re the chorus and the cage

Work-Work-Work

Another candle, another year
Colleagues nod, the cat says "purr"
The mirror shrugs, the future grins
Life's messy, but it sings

Happy birthday to me!
I'm still becoming who I want to be
Happy birthday to me!
The questions matter more than certainty
The past is gone, the future’s wide
The horizon's closer than I think

The magazines sell panic at midlife
"Buy a car, trade your spouse, dodge the knife!"
But my cat insists the meaning is clear
The lap is warm, the song is here

Happy birthday to me!
The silence teaches more than melody
Happy birthday to me!
The flaws are part of the symphony
I may not dance the way I dreamed
But the spotlight's softer than it seemed

Yes, mortality's a bore
But I've still got books unread
Wine unsipped
Arguments un-won
And my cats, plural, demanding bed space
If this is midlife
Then I call that halftime
And I've always loved the second act

Some friends are gone, some chapters closed
Some seeds I planted never rose
But others bloomed in the strangest ground
And joy's a weed, it sticks around

Happy birthday to me!
The years are chapters, not a eulogy
Happy birthday to me!
The page keeps turning restlessly
The curtain lifts, and I still want to see
Happy birthday to me!

Happy Birthday To Me!

I was gonna clean the kitchen
but the plates began a union
They demanded better hours
so I left them on strike

I thought I'd check my emails
but the subject lines were yelling
so I brewed another coffee
and let them shout at spam

Tomorrow - it's perfectly clear
everything important will start right there
Today I'm rehearsing my grand excuse
tomorrow I'll tighten the noose

I planned to pay the landlord
but the app said "try again"
I took that as a cosmic sign
to binge another show

I promised I'd go running
but my shoes are still offended
they've been waiting by the doorway
like statues keeping score

Tomorrow - the schedule's clean
I'll publish a book and I'll learn to sing
Today I just practice the art of delay
tomorrow I'll do what I meant for today

They say life is short
but it feels long enough
to put off flossing
fixing the sink
and writing that thesis
If deadlines are real
then so are unicorns

I was gonna call my mother
but she'd only ask for news
And news is what I'll have
when I finally do some things

I really wanted progress
but my plans will never start
if intention counts as effort
then I'm a work of art

Tomorrow - it's patient and kind
it carries the weight I can't lift tonight
Today is for coffee, tomorrow's for war
today keeps moving onward, tomorrow even more

Tomorrow

The printer coughs again
black smoke of bureaucracy
Paper jam number seventy-three
a graveyard of half-born memos
It whines like it's dying
but only when you need it most

Coffee machine blinking red
"Water tank missing"
No-it's right there
but the machine has decided
to unionize with the printer
We brew despair instead

Error 404: sanity not found
Temperature swings from tundra to kiln
balance is myth
comfort is folklore
On average, perfectly fine
in hell's statistics

The air vents choose violence at noon
hurling frost into spreadsheets
then molten wind into email chains
I shed layers like an onion
until only deadlines remain

We dream of revolutions
but the fire alarm
tests itself at random
reminding us rebellion
requires fresh batteries

Error 404: humanity not found
Restart, reboot, the wheel goes round
Error 404: courage can't be found
Look away fast, don't make a sound

Update complete
Nothing has changed

Error 404: Sanity Not Found

When the voices call you scrolling
and their glow feels like the sea
they will steal your midnight hours
and disguise them as a dream

When the headlines kiss your eyelids
and the slogans stroke your skin
you keep leaning into windows
that were never meant to open

When the prophets sell subscriptions
and the saints are pay-per-view
you confess into their servers
they remember more than you

When the mirror starts replying
and it smiles the way you type
every gesture feels rehearsed
every silence gets a like

When the chorus drowns your heartbeat
and the static feels like home
you are singing with the sirens
though you think you're not alone

You can't turn it down
you can't turn away
you can't turn off yourself

You can't mute the hum
you can't close the glow
you can't stop what you know

You can't kill the song
you can't break the spell
you can't silence the well

You can't turn it down
you can't turn away
you can't turn off yourself

Error 404: Sanity Not Found

Axioms of Mediocrity