Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Empties

Even after the second round of layoffs, he still managed to drag himself to the office every morning. Better to be bummed at work, he figured, than to mope around the apartment all day polishing his résumé. At least at work the phone might ring, or someone might drop by to clear out their desk. Except that work was even worse, and he found himself alone again, chipping away at the leftover beers they’d been told not to drink from the last good party in the common room, smuggling the empties home so that no one would notice them gone.

Photo by Ryan Burch

16 comments:

  1. For the month of July, the members of Exquisite Corpse are writing 100 words a day on each letter of the alphabet in turn.

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  2. Well said. It did make me feel rather depressed.

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  3. I've been in offices where others have been laid off; it's pretty frightening, and depressing.
    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

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  4. I really should of posted E for Empties as I posted D for drunk and disorderly last week.

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  5. Better to wait and be let go with a severance than to quit with nothing.

    Leslie
    abcw team

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. Hello.
    The imagery of this is so sad.
    Penned very well.
    Thanks for sharing.

    <a href="Endless Love And Devotion</a>

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  8. It's frightening to get laid off.

    Rose, ABC Wednesday Team
    Extra

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  9. oh heck...that's a sad place to be..frightening and not easy to handle..you captured that emptiness and hopelessness well

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  10. Scary for anyone in that situation ...really enjoyed this sad tale ( weird I know ) ...thanks for sharing x

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  11. dang...used to have to go close places down in one job i held...was always a hard time knowing that lives where changing in a moment...

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  12. That sinking feeling in knowing you have to start all over again....we all go through it at some point, or least most of us...life changing for sure...but strangely liberating...I wonder if the charachter in this will turn a corner and see that he can do anything he likes with his life. Very thoughtful/though provoking poem- and I really enjoy this kind of narrative style

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  13. even though so many others are getting fired, when you get fired, you just want to be alone


    Sonnet 24

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