Satisfaction
Maybe we’ve done enough
For now
There is an artificial virtue
Made of busyness
It’s plastic in the worst way,
Unmalleable
Activity in, paycheck out
As if that were enough
So we make new virtues
Out of ennui,
What passes for
The watercooler
Probably online
There should be joy in work
In accomplishment
What to say if the jobs
Were never ours
By art or temperament
But we took them, anyway
Because need honestly drives
What we have, we have
And if it’s not satisfaction,
Then we’ll have to
Add it in
Sorry perhaps
But for each there’s a life that’s calling
It isn’t busy
But it can be filled
With oxygen and all kinds
Of proper acquisition
Not to mention better
Satisfaction
Self-defined
Tempered by others
A community whose circle
Is kept porous
For something new
Maybe in companionship
To keep
Or with kindness
To let go
Which is to say
Caprice is never warranted
We are allowed to want
We don’t have to seek
Or keep
In avarice
Protection notwithstanding
(we protect each other),
A life of want and keep
Should be just fine
There’s room for everyone
And everyone deserves a turn
The invitation to speak
Should go all around
The planet
The planet’s big; there are
Resources for it
If a message, aimed at anyone
Because no one is particular,
Says be afraid
Be angry
When there’s no reason
And we have our better things to do
Let’s put it away
Walk on
Find friends
And whatever we have made
And are making
Of homes
Of home,
The better urge for work
C L Couch
Photo by Mike Petrucci on Unsplash
clcouch123 
July 9, 2020 at 8:22 pm
Hear, hear!
July 11, 2020 at 5:03 am
Thank you! And, yes, we need ways, new ways, to enjoy our work.
July 9, 2020 at 11:28 pm
Very nice….
July 10, 2020 at 12:59 am
Thank you!
July 13, 2020 at 5:27 pm
It seems to me that most people work for economic survival, rather than something they enjoy. We have tied our society into overpriced everything and the output of labour has to go increasingly higher to obtain minimal standards that we accept as our due.
There should be joy in work
In accomplishment
That is so very true, Christopher. I belonged to a religious organization, for a few years, in my thirties, “Opus Dei” the Work of God, which taught this very thing you have woven into your poetry. No matter what you do, do it with love and joy. Even the most menial task. Every job can be meditation. Insightful and highly readable poetry, as always, Christopher.
July 14, 2020 at 1:07 am
Yes, I think work is done out of only necessity too often so that we might survive in an overpriced society, as you say. And the work is done without satisfaction, let alone joy. It’s okay, better than not working, certainly. But we tell our children they should dream, and then we tell our grown-ups dreams are foolish–they won’t pay. Which should rightly create an embittered grown-up generation. But if we have these notions in the first place, of dreaming and of joy in our work, then how are they, frankly and reasonably, let go? I’m aware of Opus Dei though don’t know much about the group. If they are for love and joy in all we do, setbacks notwithstanding (thought I suppose even then), then I’d say they are living a good and needful message.
Thank you, Len. Hope your week is off to a good start.