by R. Gerry Fabian

Lost Time

has already left
when he wakes in the morning.
is involved in a merger
during coffee break
will be out of the office
at lunch time
has gone on the road
for the surprise inspection
decides to work late
right before quitting time
always finds him
in the tap room
way past
the shank of the evening.

Working Conditions

I returned from two week’s vacation
to find new metal bannisters
have replaced the old wooden ones.
The new ones are cold tubular black.
The wooden one were worn grain brown.
You could slide your hand along them
like petting a friendly dog’s head.
This metal grabs and blunts your hand.
The wooden ones would catch sunlight
and warm your palms and fingers.
The metal burns like a sunlight jellyfish sting.
Three days later, I give my notice.

R. Gerry Fabian

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R. Gerry Fabian is a retired English instructor. He has been publishing poetry since 1972 in various poetry magazines. He has published two books of his published poems, Parallels and Coming Out Of The Atlantic. His novels, Memphis Masquerade, Getting Lucky (The Story) and Seventh Sense are available at all ebook publishers including Amazon, Apple Books and Barnes and Noble. He is currently working on his fourth novel, Ghost Girl. is scheduled for publication in 2020.

_{Artist: Patricia Rios}