The story of my life, as they say. Being that fleshy lump
held between cold steel and granite, blue flame and skillet,
or that subject of inexpert experimentation in a sterile
bedroom funded by military contractors or accounting miracles,
I am no longer startled by my irrelevance to the economy.
I can assemble IKEA furniture, manipulate words, slice
salami, calculate volume in terms of books, chain saw
trees, fabricate shelving, repair PVC, curse in three languages,
prepare quiche from scratch and compose poetry (sometimes
simultaneously), to mention just a few skills, and all with great
humility, and, alas, no pay. In a previous life, I administered,
tended budgets, said "no." Now, I want to say "yes," but no one
will listen. My in-box is littered with ads for portable
oxygen, leaf guards for gutters, herpes remedies and geriatric
dating services, with a few funeral home missives and phishing
expeditions thrown in. I've been sized and assigned to a particular
box targeting a certain demographic which may or may not
be mine. The story of my life, as they say. Whoever they are.
Robert Okaji is a half-Japanese Texan living in Indiana. His most recent chapbook, Buddha’s Not Talking, won the 2022 Slipstream Annual Chapbook competition, and his work has appeared in such publications as Shō Poetry Journal, Only Poems, and Big Windows Review, among others.