PERSONALS by C. D. Wright

    

Some nights I sleep with my dress on. My teeth
are small and even. I don't get headaches.
Since 1971 or before, I have hunted a bench
where I could eat my pimento cheese in peace.
If this were Tennessee and across that river, Arkansas,
I'd meet you in West Memphis tonight. We could
have a big time. Danger, shoulder soft.
Do not lie or lean on me. I'm still trying to find a job
for which a simple machine isn't better suited.
I've seen people die of money. Look at Admiral Benbow. I wish
like certain fishes, we came equipped with light organs.
Which reminds me of a little known fact:
if we were going the speed of light, this dome
would be shrinking while we were gaining weight.
Isn't the road crooked and steep.
In this humidity, I make repairs by night. I'm not one
among millions who saw Monroe's face
in the moon. I go blank looking at that face.
If I could afford it I'd live in hotels. I won awards
in spelling and the Australian crawl. Long long ago.
Grandmother married a man named Ivan. The men called him
Eve. Stranger, to tell the truth, in dog years I am up there.


from: Steal Away: Selected and New Poems by C. D. Wright. Copyright © 2002 by C. D. Wright.

I GUESS I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE HAVING A ROUGH TIME OF IT

 

No jobs for me :(

 by Ben

Sick of job hunting

Not going as well as hoped

Can I give up now?

from Haiku of Frustration: Not Really Zen

THEY SAY THAT WITH ACCEPTANCE COMES PEACE.

Yes. STILL Unemployed. STILL looking. Sigh . . .

This Is Where I Seem To Be In My Job Hunt

It's not exactly brick, but it's a wall nonetheless.

SCENE AT OUR LOCAL EMPLOYMENT OFFICE

A GREAT QUOTE I WISH I'D SAID

I was talking to my favorite bureaucrat, (the one responsible for helping me through the world of retraining, with all of its rules, regulations, and mandates) we got to discussing the economy, and I commented on how it was just my luck to have just graduated with a great degree and lots of experience into "1930." His response was great:

"Yeah,
I wake up every morning now
expecting to see everything in black and white!"

DEPRESSED?

What makes you think I'm depressed?

Hey. Sorry for my absence this past week; but when you're a job hunting, newly minted teacher, the window of opportunity is narrow. I was told by a very pleasant woman whom I called for information, that there are as many as a hundred applicants for many positions. I confessed that I really would not like to have her job, and she just sighed.

So as you might guess, after seven years of school work with a 3.9 GPA, and many years of tutoring reading and English - I feel a bit lost. A killer resume and lots of job apps have not even netted me an interview.

Maybe I can wear my degrees and credential, printed on a t-shirt when I work at Walmart.

Any suggestions for fighting the depression that sets in when you finally succeed and accomplish your greatest goals, only to have the world desert you?



I found a great site with some wonderful depression era artwork. It's called the Depression Art Gallery and this picture is from that site.

I bet you can't guess the name of this picture.

It's No Work, by Blanche Grambs (1935), and seems to say it all.

Are you sensing a theme in this post?