He Got the Job!

5stran

00:00 / 04:04

SODISM LAND

Sod Cell Connected to Office

The Fool finally got a job. "Wow, this is great!" he exclaimed. "I'm so happy to work here!"
"Glad that you've joined our team," his new boss replied. "Let me give you a little tour."
They entered one of the offices in the building. "This is where our team often meets. You might notice a small cell adjoined to the office," the boss stated.
"Yes, I did notice," the Fool replied. "What is that for? If you don't mind me asking."
"Here, let me show you," the boss guided him to the cell.

Pig in a Sod Cell

The Fool peered into the cell. "That pig is kind of cute, but why is grass growing on the floor?" the Fool asked.
"We call this a sod cell," the boss replied. "Congress passed a law to allow corporations to create these kinds of cells in office buildings, and the King signed it into law."
"Are these cells mainly for pets or farm animals?" the Fool inquired.
"That, and others," the boss smiled.

His Very Own Sod Cell

"Here, let me escort you to your own personal sod cell," the boss gestured. "We've discovered that a small room with grass and flowers is more relaxing than cubicles, and our employees end up being more productive." The Fool sat down in the grass and smiled.

King de Sod

The boss closed the door. "Every now and then, King de Sod will stop by to visit as you're working," the boss stated.

Marquis de Sod

While the Fool was working, a man in a fancy suit showed up. "So you are our new employee!" the man exclaimed. "Nice to meet you. I am the Marquis de Sod. I am the designer of all of these sod cells. I hope you are comfortable. Let me guide you on a tour of other sod cells here in our company."

Retirement Age

"This is a retirement cell," the Marquis de Sade stated. "Since the government cut social security, when an employee has reached retirement age and can no longer work, we let the worker retire in one of our retirement sod cells."
"That's kind of you," the Fool replied.

Too Sick to Work

The Fool and the Marquis continued on the tour, "Since our legislators eliminated access to health care for most workers, we created sod cells for those who get sick. Some of them actually recover from their illness. After all, the ruling political party needed to give the super-rich a huge tax cut so that some of that money eventually trickles down to the rest of us."
"That's nice. Yeah, so much money has trickled down to you and me," the Fool chuckled.

A Knight in Sodism Land

"Unfortunately some people have an overwhelmingly compulsive need to tell the truth and do the right thing. That unfortunately can have an adverse effect on corporate profits. We have special cells where rebels can rest and reflect--and eventually become productive workers once again."
"That's very considerate," the Fool replied.

DEI Sod Cell

"We try to eliminate favoritism here, which is why we have created Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion sod cells. That way no one feels cheated," the Marquis de Sod explained. "We occasionally put someone who looks like they might be a DEI hire in a sod cell."
"It's good to know that you strive to make the average worker feel comfortable," the Fool replied.

Immigrant Sod Cell

"Often the government arrests people who look like immigrants and then sends them without due process to a gulag in another realm," the Marquis continued. "At this corporation, we have special sod cells for people who look like immigrants so that they don't have to fear being sent to a concentration camp."
"Freedom from fear is extremely important to workers," the Fool replied.

Reproductive Health Sod Cell

"Sometimes women have serious reproductive health care issues," the Marquis de Sod commented. "We have created reproductive health sod cells so that women don't have to bleed out in a parking lot while waiting for reproductive health care."
"That's very compassionate of you," the Fool responded.

Child Care Sod Cell

"Sometimes our employees have more than one job but can't afford child care. Sometimes they can't afford to feed their children either. Since the government cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, we have sod cells for the children of our employees, and we occasionally even feed them," the Marquis smiled.
"That's very kind of you!" the Fool exclaimed.

Labor Organizer Sod Cell

"We understand that some workers occasionally have the desire to organize other employees to fight for better wages and working conditions even though the government has eliminated that kind of nonsense as much as possible. We have special sod cells just for organizers," the Marquis stated. "That way we can decrease the potential conflict between employees and employers as much as possible."
"Decreasing conflict is always good," the Fool mentioned.

Mystic Sod Cell

"Occasionally an employee will have a mystical experience or a spiritual awakening. That unfortunately can decrease productivity, especially if that employee ends up influencing other employees. As you can see, we have special sod cells for mystics."
The Fool gazed at the Marquis de Sod. "Well, that gives the mystics time to meditate in peace at least," the Fool sighed.

Health Care Advocate Sod Cell

The Marquis continued, "Occasionally, a person in this corporation, often a woman, will advocate for better health care coverage. The government, as you know, has eliminated health care coverage as much as possible. We let health care advocates recover from their irrational political impulses in special sod cells such as this one."
"Well, I'm glad that you let them recover," the Fool replied.

Contract Employee Sod Cell

"We primarily have contract employees here. These independent contractors receive no benefits like health care insurance or a pension. Occasionally one of them will have rebellious impulses or what amounts to a nervous breakdown, so we have special sod cells for them. If I'm not mistaken, you are a contract employee."
"That is correct, but I am hoping to be a full-time employee with full benefits at some point," the Fool politely replied.

Dementia Sod Cell

"Occasionally an older worker will suffer from dementia, and since the government has cut Medicaid, their children can no longer afford nursing home care, so we have special sod cells for the elderly," the Marquis de Sod explained. "Usually they don't last long, unfortunately."
"Well, at least someone is trying to care for the elderly," the Fool grumbled.

King Ollie Gark de Sod

At the end of the tour, the Marquis de Sod introduced the Fool to King Ollie Gark. The King smiled, "I hope you are able to do productive work in your own personal sod cell."
"I will always do my best for you and your corporation, sir," the Fool emphatically stated.
"That's the spirit, my boy," the King replied. "That's the spirit."

All poems, stories, illustrations, and music Copyright © 2024 by Jim Robbins.

(I just had to indulge in a little political satire again....)

Pestle and Salamander in Mortar

beat10

00:00 / 04:10

INITIATION

Rumor was the older scouts planned to strip us
down to our underwear, cover us in molasses,
pour cornflakes all over us, urinate on us,
and throw us into the swift river

at midnight. Instead, after dark
they lured me far beyond
the campground and ditched me.
No moon. No flashlight. At first,

I inched forward, striving to avoid
holes, rocks, fallen branches. Hopeless,
I paused--but then I could heard the river.
I lurched toward its dull roar until

I found the mossy outhouse at the edge
of the campground. Exhausted by a day
of sprinting here and there, truth
be told, l knew that I would not have lasted

until midnight. Truth be told, I didn't understand
that being ditched was the real initiation
until forty years later, when once again
alone in the darkness, I recalled

locating the silent camp and crawling
deep into my sleeping bag, warmed
by breath and body heat--so deep
I wondered for a moment if I might

suffocate while I slept. When I woke, I heard
my Dad outside the tent asking my friends
where I was. Ready for a new day,
ecstatic that my worst fears had not

been realized, I was like someone
who could not be hurt for long, who
would always find his way even
on a moonless night. If I could

relive that moment so intensely
that I would experience all without
bitterness or regret, letting go
of whatever does not serve me,

would I be like an eternal child
or some angel in a perpetual dance?

Deer Brush and Bush Lupine near the River

fool

00:00 / 03:36

TAG BY THE RIVER

They twirled me around
ten times at the edge
of the campground,
then they scattered. I

swayed a little before
lunging after them, each one
vanishing into deer brush
by the river, the water

roaring into a still,
deep pool, then
sweeping around a bend,
a phoebe chirping, barely

out of my reach, on a twig
above the shining edge
of the pool and the rapids.
I was tempted to forget the game

and swim across, the water
smooth for a stretch,
then pitilessly raging,
and I glimpsed my brother,

fifty feet away, scrambling
as if his life depended
on it. I sprinted
after him, twenty feet

away before he
disappeared into
the brush again, and I
gave up. Again,

I had failed miserably.
As I leaped
across a small stream,
my friends seemed

so distant, impossible
to tag. Two feet away,
the river drifted by, the sun
kindling my ribs,

the river and the earth so
peaceful that I felt,
for the first time, connected
with the bushes and trees,

aware that my soul
was ballooning. I felt linked
with something vast, unseen,
the awesome spirit of the earth.

I did not desire
anything else. My brother finally
found me and scornfully
asked where I'd been,

and we marched back to camp
where I glimpsed in the distance
the shining edge of the smooth pool
and the pitiless rapids.

Mangled Bridge

home

00:00 / 03:47

MANGLED BRIDGE AND ROSY CROSS

Scrambling down a steep slope, I knelt before
Ithuriel's spears, a rattlesnake rippling
by my boot, lizards scampering
through dry leaves, the river crashing

through the canyon below. Once I flew over
unstable stones in the river bottom as I struggled
to keep up with my brother and friends. Today
I surveyed each inch before even taking a step

and found the skeletal steel frame of a washed-out bridge
clinging to a megalithic stone in the middle
of the river, and I remembered: decades ago,
a friend blurted out a rumor about a collapsed bridge,

and without another word we had dashed through
the river bottom to find it. That day I had felt clumsy
and fatigued (the first signs of chronic illness), and I
just couldn't keep up. I had been ditched before

on a moonless night and in a cave, but never
abandoned in broad daylight. Today, I felt eleven
again, but I'd found the bridge and they hadn't.
I had continued to wander through a forest

of symbols, the bridge for a moment a symbol
of the past four decades. Somehow, I felt the same,
as if I had entered a timeless domain. Our fathers,
who had fished side by side that day,

had both died a few years later. Four decades before
in this same river bottom, my Holy
Guardian Angel, my daimon, more than once,
had spoken to me of events to come, years

in the future. Nonplussed, I had forgotten
the voice until the events occurred.
The perplexing, unpredictable angel
is only my soul, whose voice transcends

space and time--in this quiet river bottom
and in meditation. Today I closed my eyes,
a rose blooming in my mind's eye, at first
blood-red on a cross of splintery wood,

then the petals changing color, each petal
representing a path of the Tree of Life,
the cross an unfolded cube of space
and time. I could have been anyone

these past forty years, and this forest
would have remained pretty much the same, yet
now I know the rose blooms inside me
and perhaps eternally abides, a symbol

of the soul in timeless grace, the river
lost in time until I opened my eyes again
as a snake slithered beside me
between dry, slowly curling hands.

Mystical Tarot Realms

Click on BLOG above to go to other pages.

He Got the Job!

SODISM LAND

Sod Cell Connected to Office

His Very Own Sod Cell

"Here, let me escort you to your own personal sod cell," the boss gestured. "We've discovered that a small room with grass and flowers is more relaxing than cubicles, and our employees end up being more productive." The Fool sat down in the grass and smiled.

The boss closed the door. "Every now and then, King de Sod will stop by to visit as you're working," the boss stated.

While the Fool was working, a man in a fancy suit showed up. "So you are our new employee!" the man exclaimed. "Nice to meet you. I am the Marquis de Sod. I am the designer of all of these sod cells. I hope you are comfortable. Let me guide you on a tour of other sod cells here in our company."

"This is a retirement cell," the Marquis de Sade stated. "Since the government cut social security, when an employee has reached retirement age and can no longer work, we let the worker retire in one of our retirement sod cells."
"That's kind of you," the Fool replied.

Too Sick to Work

A Knight in Sodism Land

Reproductive Health Sod Cell

"Sometimes women have serious reproductive health care issues," the Marquis de Sod commented. "We have created reproductive health sod cells so that women don't have to bleed out in a parking lot while waiting for reproductive health care."
"That's very compassionate of you," the Fool responded.

Child Care Sod Cell

Labor Organizer Sod Cell

Mystic Sod Cell

Health Care Advocate Sod Cell

Contract Employee Sod Cell

Dementia Sod Cell

King Ollie Gark de Sod

All poems, stories, illustrations, and music Copyright © 2024 by Jim Robbins.

(I just had to indulge in a little political satire again....)

Pestle and Salamander in Mortar

INITIATION

Rumor was the older scouts planned to strip us
down to our underwear, cover us in molasses,
pour cornflakes all over us, urinate on us,
and throw us into the swift river

Deer Brush and Bush Lupine near the River

TAG BY THE RIVER

They twirled me around
ten times at the edge
of the campground,
then they scattered. I

Mangled Bridge

MANGLED BRIDGE AND ROSY CROSS

Scrambling down a steep slope, I knelt before
Ithuriel's spears, a rattlesnake rippling
by my boot, lizards scampering
through dry leaves, the river crashing

He Got the Job!

SODISM LAND

Sod Cell Connected to Office

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His Very Own Sod Cell

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"Here, let me escort you to your own personal sod cell," the boss gestured. "We've discovered that a small room with grass and flowers is more relaxing than cubicles, and our employees end up being more productive." The Fool sat down in the grass and smiled.

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The boss closed the door. "Every now and then, King de Sod will stop by to visit as you're working," the boss stated.

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While the Fool was working, a man in a fancy suit showed up. "So you are our new employee!" the man exclaimed. "Nice to meet you. I am the Marquis de Sod. I am the designer of all of these sod cells. I hope you are comfortable. Let me guide you on a tour of other sod cells here in our company."

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"This is a retirement cell," the Marquis de Sade stated. "Since the government cut social security, when an employee has reached retirement age and can no longer work, we let the worker retire in one of our retirement sod cells."
"That's kind of you," the Fool replied.