###### Married for 22 years

I was twenty five
Living in Kathmandu, getting old
And my sister called me
And said, you have to come home
I have the woman for you
So I got on my motorbike
And I drove, two days straight
Through the rain
Like a hero in an Indian movie
And I got to the village
And my sister said, she’s in there
Go to her
And I went in the room
Right away, she turned her face away
Covered it, sat facing the wall
Hours, hours
She wouldn’t turn, or speak, nothing
I tried all day
I say to my sister, she won’t look at me
My sister said, wait
Come back the next day.
I come back the next day
Same thing
Two days later
Her family finds out, they’re upset
They’re coming to get her
I take her on my motorbike
And I drive, two days straight
Far away, no one can find us
Still, she covers her face
Now I get nervous, did I make a mistake?
What if she has a boil on her face
Or something
What if she is ugly
You know
But its too late, I have already taken her
It's just the two of us
Slowly, slowly
She uncovers her face
A little bit at a time
And soon I see
She is the most beautiful woman

Married for 22 years

###### **#1 - INVESTMENT BANKING ANALYST**

At 8 in the morning I'd rise
Quelling my internal cries
Get myself to the L
A personal hell
And brace myself for their lies

We need this by Tuesday, they'd say
Tho the meeting'd be far far away
I'd scramble to do it
They'd start to review it
Tho we all knew the ask was just cray

We lived under Parkinson's Law
Our work and our time at a draw
As the time was expanded
More work was demanded
But no one saw this as a flaw

Tho I can't say I would have hired me
Inititally they had desired me
But I grumped and I groaned
And I mumped and I moaned
Until one day I found they had fired me

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###### **#2 - SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FELLOW**

So the corporate life isn't for me,
Globally South I did flee,
I say I'll do good,
I feel like I should
And sure, why not do it for free?

My NGO works with the poor
Mostly to help them get more
All employees like me
Young, Western, carefree
With regrets of not doing Peace Corps

In the mission the others subsume
So in myself I try to exhume
Some sense of purpose
That isn't lip service
But these feelings I just can't assume

This probably comes off as petty
But I tire of hot dogs in spaghetti
Same goes for rice
And showers like ice
And nightmares of rusty machetes

In six months I have done nada
I'm ready to leave, inshallah
And as for my fellow man,
Whom to aid was my plan
I abandon him to Guatemala

There's two modes of living, it seems
And now I had tried out both teams
If money won't thrill
And mission fails to fulfill
From what wellspring do I draw up dreams?

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###### **#3 - GLOBAL STRATEGY MANAGER**

At my last job each day was the same
None of my bosses to blame
Between me and you
There was no work to do
So there I sat, playing a game

Post banking, this job was a lark
The paycheck, a walk in the park
But the hours slipped past
Two years at the mast
My time there made nary a mark

At jobs I can't help it, I shirk
Only the suckers do work
Two years I spend toodle-ing
Idly doodle-ing
And now in my head these thoughts lurk—

What if the drones have it right?
To pull in the harness, to fight
Sure, I can laze
But at the end of our days
What gives a person delight?

I know this one is the doozer
Me, the freeloader, the user
Cast myself as the winner
For not earning my dinner
But now I fear, I'm the loser.

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