fifty pounds

[hitchhiker]

A poem posted to twitter (as an image, sadly), transcribed below.

fifty pounds

I cannot safely lift fifty pounds
not every human can
and no, you are not an equal opportunity employer.

I think about those abled bodies sitting
in comfortable chairs behind desks
because they can weather the hazing ritual
of moving a file box
twice a year -

but that's not what you're really asking, is it.

you're asking will you miss work,
asking if I can cram myself into the shape
of someone younger.
how willing I am
to borrow and steal from my mortal self
and pay it back in pain

and I'm laughing at you because
I was willing once;
we were willing,
and you used it up.
and you're still measuring us all
against that damn file box
and wondering why
you can't get any help around here.

-- Alastair Zaraza, October '21

Comments

[zahraa]

I can easily lift a file box, but there are some other things I really can't do that I could do when I was younger (like, sit under fluorescent lights--I never liked it, but it only gave me splitting headaches for a week or two at time until my period came, not on an ongoing basis). I am seeing a problem, though, where too many of my colleagues are willing to settle for going back into offices, or for hybrid arrangements, and that 100% remote is hard to find.

[cjsmith]

too many of my colleagues are willing

That's a big issue. Open plan offices, unnecessary commutes, all sorts of things: the people that aren't much affected by it are willing. There's no solidarity.