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Greetings, writers—
I read this poem during my bus commute the other week, and it delighted me.1 It comes from Poem-a-Day, “the original and only daily digital poetry series,”2 which I think every writer (and reader) should subscribe to, because life is better when there’s poetry in it.
Jordan Kapano Nakamura wrote the poem while he was looking for work. In interview after interview, he said, he kept trying to prove that he’d “be an ideal ‘human resource,’ a suitable worker to uphold the empire of business-as-usual.”
The poem, meanwhile, functions as “a kind of fantasy interview,” in which Nakamura gets to say what he really means.
Please enjoy!
Today, write what you (or the character in whatever story/poem/novel you’re working on) would say if you (they) were really and truly honest.
Happy writing—
Emily
Line 14 made me laugh out loud on the bus.
Although the Poetry Foundation also seems to have a poem of the day email! I’m signing up now.
I know, right? I laughed out loud on the bus. I thought I had a line about that in the post, but apparently not.
That made me laugh out loud, too!