William Doreski

Stiff in gray air, a flag accents
a slab of industrial landscape.
Dull windowless metal-sided
warehouse capped with ventilators.

Who works in such a bland setting?
I lasted two weeks in Hallmark
Cards’ facility in Enfield,
sorting greetings for shipment,

unloading boxcars arriving
from Kansas, where steam presses
spewed thousands of glitzy cards
for birthdays, graduations, griefs.

I couldn’t take all that sentiment
and quit to paint snowplows orange
at the state highway garage.
Rushing past this warehouse with flag

proud on its stem, I remember
orange paint in my hair, everywhere.
Scrubbing myself for date nights
nearly deprived me of my skin.

Still, I liked working outdoors.
just as I like traveling by train
past these ordinary places
that adroitly rhyme with my life.

William Doreski lives in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He has taught at several colleges and universities. He has published three critical studies, including Robert Lowell’s Shifting Colors. His essays, poetry, fiction, and reviews have appeared in various journals.