John Berryman
Working From Home
"Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so
After all, my mother told me as a boy
Ever to confess you’re bored
Means you have no inner resources"
Working from home, dying alone
Nothing happens in the zone
In the vacuum you want to heave
Exposed and hidden, struggling to breathe
Frightened pirate, frightened sheep
Bored awake, bored to sleep
Bored, bored as hell
Nothing to taste, nothing to smell
Nothing to buy on the shelves
To defy except ourselves
And who to fuck, and who to fight
And what to draw and what to write
"The sky flashes, the great sea yearns
We ourselves flash and yearn"
Frightened by people, frightened alone
By the web and by the phone
Bored of papers, scared of the sun
All the lepers and all the lungs
Tell yourself that you can face the pain
Going sensibly insane
Scared to death by everything
With a fever that soaks you to the skin
Working from home, dying alone
Nothing happens in the zone
In the vacuum you want to heave
Exposed and hidden, struggling to breathe
Frightened pirate, frightened sheep
Bored awake, scared to sleep
"Ever to confess you’re bored
Means you have no inner resources
I conclude now I have no inner resources
Because I am heavy bored"