When the woman at the job centre asks
how is the work search I want to say, lady
I have a full-time job
holding onto my humanity with both hands
while I hang laundry with my teeth
one leg behind my head cause
I was told boys like that
she asks me if I like politics and
I say I studied them, she asks me
if I’d like to work for the government and I
say you can’t be political then
and I like saying what is on my mind
out loud, even if it means I constantly
brush against this grain or that
and everyone thinks I have a thick skin
but actually, I’m just stiff
from the splinters, the lady smiles like
this is a choice I make,
rather than my existence clashing
with every table corner and door frame
in every space I ever enter
I try to get around, these shapes they
say are permanent and innate
necessary and beneficial
my work coach smiles like her teeth are
the belief that resistance is futile
she doesn’t realise I don’t resist
anymore, I am a duck
paddling on her back
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