Failure Zoo

Jerome asks if it smells funny

I say
I can’t smell anything

Oh
he says

I sit back down

so does he

it is Saturday
they’ve run the museum into the ground
so there’s nothing to do

my coffee’s kicked in
so napping’s not an option

just listening
to the AC system in the flight simulators
while Jerome tries desperately to locate
the source of the smell

every few minutes
a slack-jawed tourist
or European w/ a fanny pack on
will peek into the flight simulator room
through a small window at the far end

it is near dark in here
w/ a starry night sky and ocean backdrop
painted on the walls

we are on display
in a failure zoo

we were once lions
w/ young bodies

now we’ve learned
that a cage is a cage
and scraps are scraps

but we still have some battle in us
we still have a little fight

every time we fart on the job

sorry Jerome

© 2009 Lee Kitzis