Hurrying through the glum lot,
I saw
a distant herd of
unemployed umbrellas,
standing proud in cold rain.
They looked green
and dimly mocking,
and I believed that they existed.
Just then, a faint horn blew-
it echoed,
filling and redefining all space.
Those umbrellas were over there
because I was over here,
and I simply believed they could exist
without committing to their existence.
Stopping, I now stood sopping
and watched them shelter nothing
without apology,
no longer straining to imagine
what it would feel like to be
so resolutely useless,
so unemployed. . .
which is to say,
self employed.
