"best of" poem of the day 04.18.14

lent

i go into the one room in the office
and she has her head on the desk

what's the matter? i ask

god is punishing me, she says
my laptop, it's all gone
the internet and all of my files

i pay my bills online, she says

i go over to check out her computer
sure as shit everything is gone

you have that malware, i tell her
one of those fucking viruses
those little anarchist pricks have plagued us with

this happened to me once, i say
cost me two hundred to get the machine working again

god is punishing me, she says

god isn't real
and if he was he wouldn't punish you
for looking at porn, i say

she lifts her head
i wasn't looking at porn

well, i was, and that's how they got me

i don't want to tell you how this happened, she says

okay

i get up from her laptop
and go into my office to check my email
and pray for a better life
because god is punishing me too
by burdening me with certain aspects of this one

she comes to my door with tears in her eyes
i have to be honest with you, she says
i was looking up your poems again
 
i look at her sideways because
we've had this problem before about a year ago
i thought my cover was blown at this place
but she never said a word to anyone else

it's just that your stuff is so deep and real, she says
you come off as dull and boring at work, but you're not

i'm just a good liar, i tell her
i really am this dull and boring

no you're not, she says
you're lucky, she tells me
i always wanted to do something like that
but i never could
there was never any encouragement

i just did what my parents told me, she says
i got married and i had a child

there's always time to get the word down, i tell her

she shakes her head
god is punishing me, she says
this is what i get for being nosy and interested in something

malware, i tell her

that's why i'm giving you up for lent
i have to give you up for lent, she says

and then she laughs
tell your wife there's a crazy woman at the office
who's giving you up for lent

i probably shouldn't, i say

god,i bet you find this so hysterical, she says

then she leaves the office
to go back and tend to her broken machine
thinking that some god has punished her
for trying to be more than this criminal world will allow

and i sit there, as always,
trying to find the humor in anything
and everything else in this life.