Dreadfully sorry
You must be mistaken
I wanted no part
In these games you partake in
But still play along
And assume any role
With a character flaw
Even critics extol
To behold a performance
Befitting of class
Acting fake
Then you make it
Identity’s mask
But my eyes independently
Scan and discern
And my tongue lashes out
When I hunger to learn
Why the rest
Of the pesky insects
Drone away
Just to miss my shade change
All too late
And fall prey

Where to turn
Now
For the piece missing placed
Office spaces
Remotely
Mismanage my case
Could provide sanctuary
Community
Interface
But she’s a coworker still
Nothing more
So I sit at my desk,
Over documents pour
Can’t get closer
Attached
Like a sticky note
Wrote
As a final reminder
To end at the rope

Ahead of myself
Guess she gets
What I’m thinking
Can’t stare at her too long
Without even blinking
Not veering
Nor shying away
From her gaze
Wondering
If she sees me
In all the same ways
But it could be
She happened to speak to me
Kindly
That makes me so hopeless
Romantically
Blinded

Finally laying to rest
For the evening
Another long day
Couldn’t find
Any meaning
To life
Just epiphanies
Not so bright light
Revelations
Absurdity ascertained
Death and taxations

Declines in additional
Income
A ******
But calling this work
Is like he’s in the summer
Just feels like reflections
Of compromised quality
Quantity mirrors
To me
The frivolity
Of expectations,
Complaints,
And constraints
On the time it takes
Me
To fill in
All the blanks

At least I can think about her
All the time
Predecessors
In retrospect
Still on my mind
All the same
Never changes,
Arrives uninvited
The failed
Ever fallen love
Still unrequited

Don’t ask for much
But respect
Just address
Me as such
You’re in my house
Arrest
And still dwell in a glass
Domicile
Of shame,
Insecurity,
Foolishness
Shattering frame
When I know you can’t look at me
Square in the eye
I see through your intentions,
Your presence
Belies
Here unwelcome among
The long love bereft
Numb
And you only make foes of me
Thinking me dumb