I’m something more
or less
the mess of numbers,
arrows,
code and sorrow
stre-e-e-tched
across my wide-
screen-hours,
making odds meet ends,
and end be balanced
into spreadsheets
hyper scaled to sums
of dollars
and maybe later
borrow words
from Powerpoints
to bless the hour
when I may spill
the beans I gingerly
have spent my daytime
counting,
and I may dye my hair
in pink,
take off my shoes
pretending
that my office
is further than the forest
Today Sarah hosts at dVerse where she asks us for a poetic selfie. I think working from has changed me a lot so I wrote from that perspective.
September 8, 2020
Björn Rudbergs writings 
I love this!
Love these words:
“bless the hour
when I may spill
the beans I gingerly
have spent my daytime
counting,”
And oh yes….I would love to see you with pink hair! These times have changed us all.
I just have some pink highlight
I like your wordplays here, Bjorn – especially spilling the beans you have counted! All offices should be in forests, I think.
Great poem and a super selfie – I love the mask; did you make it yourself? I also love the internal rhyming and the way you identify with your work persona. Working from home can intrude on home life, but pretending your office is further than the office is the perfect trick to staying sane in the time of Covid. I especially like the play on words in the lines:
‘making odds meet ends,
and end be balanced
into spreadsheets’
and
‘…I may spill
the beans I gingerly
have spent my daytime
counting’.
I had fun writing this… it was my wife who made the face-mask but we don’t use face masks so it’s just waiting to be used.
The balancing is what jumps out here, which is so important in a time of such a jumble of numbers that face each day. Speaking of balance, when I went to the library a bit ago, a man was having a meltdown at the drop box. They want all returns to go in the outside drop box to be quarantined for 4 days, and he was coming out of the library to put them in, which means he was sent outside by librarians. He was not pleased and took it out on the books.
Oh you have a lot of rules … never heard of such things…
This is exquisitely drawn, Bjorn! 💝 We are living in uncertain and dangerous times .. I resonate with “bless the hour when I may spill
the beans I gingerly have spent my daytime counting.” Love the photo too 🙂
and I may dye my hair
in pink,
take off my shoes
pretending
that my office
is further than the forest
’nuff said!
Great stuff, Bjorn.
Beautifully penned!
Spill the beans and pink your hair! Hurrah!
Well entered Bjorn! May your columns always equal… 🙂 great pic…
Love your mask!
And hey – I am all for pink hair
Love the wordplay and rhythm of this self-portrait! I’m find it interesting that you define yourself through your work – your poem makes bean counting sound fascinating!
Great photo Bjorn… Your poem of days full of numbers and calculating must be quite a challenge. I can see why you write poetry! Very nicely done!
dwight
Wonderful. Wonderful.
I can totally relate to this.
Definitely a creative way of describing the life inside the corners of offices. The last few lines speak a lot to me. And nice to see you!
This is a really interesting take on the prompt and a great and entertaining poem: I think when we go into ‘the office’ or whatever our place of work may be, we put on our ‘office persona.’ I know I did anyway. I ditched that with the outbreak of the pandemic: sometimes I miss the near-theatricality of it, other times I just love writing in my pyjamas!
Fascinating weave of words and so relatable!
I resonate with “sorrow stretched across my wide-screen hours.”
I like all those idioms you string together to show us something more than the sum of its parts (to borrow another).
work sounds tedious so wordsmithing and outdoors are your balance, well done!
A nice snapshot to preserve this troubled time, you have kind eyes
After a day of spreadsheets, I think that forest would be welcome.
Great wordplay and description of office life. The forest is a magical place. Wonderful selfie!
I found myself lost in the comments and had to go back to read a second time.
I see something of myself in your words but t’was in my past. These days my garden lures me more than the screens in our home. In saying that, I find myself inspired to write in the garden even when I’m weeding.
As the Spring opens its door to new beginnings I hope to sit more and write and read. Perhaps in the garden I can be inspired AND write.