Hardly onerous:
Nothing undergone
But a desk and telephone.
And a living lay in this?
No need to swing a pick,
Dig ditches, turn a trick?

The thought can hit me still,
If not with quite the force
It did at first, of course . . .
The feeling’s changed as well:
From great straight up to great
Cut with fortunate.

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Daniel Brown’s poetry collections are Taking the Occasion (Ivan R. Dee) and What More? (Orchises Press).



This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 38 Number 4, on page 39
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https://newcriterion.com/issues/2019/12/first-job

Topics: Poetry

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