Canned 

Come with me, he said, 
And you went willingly 
And without a fuss 
Though your face was beet red.  

You were always the first one in  
The last one out 
And the main man at the Mr. Coffee. 
You lived in your cubicle 
Punching code all day 
But it wasn’t enough. 

The security guard gave you five minutes 
And led you by the arm through the 
Long isle between walls of dusty cubicles 
With everyone staring at you 
Carrying a Walmart plastic bag with 
What was left of your career.  

And then you were outside standing 
In a cold parking lot in a Minneapolis suburb 
Where cornfields compete with concrete 
And the summer’s tomatoes 
Were already being canned. 

The Urine Collectors 

I went into the bathroom 
where the toilet water was a pristine blue 
so they'd know if I’d taken any. 
I have to go through this 
just to keep my damn job. 

But it could be worse. 
I could be this guy 
who takes my overflowing cup of urine 
from my delirium trembling hands. 
Not that’s a shitty job.  

He somehow keeps the arrogance  
of a doctor in his white lab coat 
and fake Mont Blanc pen.  

We do what we can, what we have to, 
to make it through this strange world. 

Why I Love My Cubicle 

First, it’s no ordinary cubicle. 
It’s the sought after and fought over 
Corner cubicle 
With two solid walls and just 
One close neighbor. 
It’s quiet in the early morning 
With only the hum of my computer. 
The dusty blue fabric partitions  
Reminds me of the sky in Minnesota.  

It’s furnished nicely 
With the spoils of 
Many who’ve toiled here 
Long before me, 
Their staplers and pencil holders 
And fine fake leather appointment books, 
All this is mine now.  

I have a high back chair 
That hides me completely 
When I’m sitting at my desk 
So no one knows 
Whether I’m here or not. 
And years from now 
No one will know 
I was ever here. 

Author’s Biography

Gary Bloom grew up in Minneapolis and attended what is now Minnesota State University- Mankato, where he studied sociology. He has been a teaching assistant in a psychiatric hospital, a driving instructor for spinal cord injury patients, and ESL teacher in Taiwan, and a computer programmer. His articles and poetry have been published in newspapers, magazines and websites, including Literary Hatchet, Liquid Imagination, Milwaukee Magazine, The Buffalo News, The Grand Rapids Press, Art Times Journal, and Black Diaspora