Unnecessary Employment         to Patrick Durgin                                              the wise spaceman                                     tilts his head                                                Toward the shuttle bay                                   in which the payload he has been paid to deliver                               i.e., to place in orbit about the earth                                                     Rests                                           He stares into the sentimental infinity                               My god, he thinks                                             the open sky covering the North American continent                              Looks exceptionally beautiful                                                 A wee bit of nostalgia                                                        Has crept into his consciousness                                     He wonders if he could be thrown out of his job                                                  accused of crimes                                  which are not considered as such anywhere                                              He has simply made a mess                                                              Of things                                The holes bored into the exterior walls of the payload                                          Left little heaps of plaster-like material                                                       clinging to the interior of the bay                                    His technique was antiquated                                                   the holes were all too obvious                                      Wasn't it a complete waste of effort?                              Despite the surveillance of the well-fed oafs ordered to follow him                                                      the wise spaceman                                            Was totally immune to the cult of bigness                                                                       In all its forms                                      his deepening sense of contact with the world he floated                                                               So far above                                                  Was a kind of victory over death                                                        He is gradually                                                         picking up speed                                          He has no doubt as to the value of this operation                                                                Out of step                                                    and having broken discipline                                              His attention is focussed on the silenced                                                                        solar panels                                                     The isolated shapes remind him                                        Of all the teachers and administrative staff of his son's school                                                                                      constellations                                        in the space between