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Chad Parenteau

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Work-Through-Lunch Poem

O'Hara never had bad dreams
of days like this.

Sustenance substituted
for vending machine run,
not enough time to hold
a haiku with your candy bar.

Another day, another dead lady
trending on Twitter,
sad emojis beating
your best words-per-minute.

Crying kidneys bring you
to the bathroom break
as you sound out the only poem
your colleagues may ever hear.

Chad Parenteau is the author of Patron Emeritus, released in 2013 by FootHills Publishing. His work has appeared in Tell-Tale Inklings, What Rough Beast, The Skinny Poetry Journal, Ibbetson Street and Wilderness House Literary Review. He serves as Associate Editor of the online journal Oddball Magazine. His second full-length collection, The Collapsed Bookshelf, is forthcoming.

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  1. UnknownMay 25, 2019 at 12:34 PM

    For me this is a good visualization of the frustration with a rushed or impending deadline against the desire for true creativity.

    ReplyDelete

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