Bottom Dogs Intro:

                                 “When we think of America, and of her huge success,

we never realize how many failures have gone, and still go to build up that success.

It is not till you live in America, and go a little under the surface, that you begin to see 

how terrible and brutal it is; the mass of failure that nourishes the roots of the gigantic 

tree of dollars. . . ”

                                                              Edward Dahlbergs 1930 novel

he didnt think much of America

why should he

it wasnt thinking much of itself these days

the House had thrown its hands up against the black President

and rather than work as they were elected  ostensibly  to do

they devolved into Maddows “worthless, nonfunctioning, pathetic excuse for a branch of Government”

he hadnt devolved

like many others he lost his job

and though he hadnt worked in years

when you havent 

when you have stood apart  separate  away from it

you begin to observe things you hadnt when you were in it      upclose and personal  

youre better able to hear its belly percolate  a bad stomach   its murmurings

castigations queries and sly malefeasances

you witness its haste and lull  efficiency and lack

you see its exertion exhaustion frustration elation   its blue fulfillment and yellow balks

                                                                                                                     

Now  you recognize its Society  and Dirge

you distinctively hear the nattering and numbing rote 
                                                                                                                                                                      --   The rote!  The rote!

“The horror! The horror!” from Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness  that he cried over the 

callcenter floor when it seemed there wasnt one among them who would dare go outside 

the box

and join him

he never knew if any of his confident and educated coworkers knew that line                               

a beautiful sublime matter

                                               and if they knew it they either didnt let on or seem to care

they genuflected to what Upstairs deemed was or wasnt extraneous  --  superficial  --   

and because his dink didnt provide traction or a foot up in their course or track of

business  --  non-tangential  --  it wasnt anything the Entity might use in its very 

very serious Game

The rote!  The rote!  seemed profound to him  elegant

he chose it  particularly  to abrade the confine the cloister of their workspace

for Securitys Sake

sealed windows

locked doors

air-conditioning

heating

recirculated air

filthy overhead vents and ill-maintained filters

for the Sake of Security

the doors which held the outside out

were not to be breached  or opened

they wore chained placards like gang jewelry declaring  NO EXIT

though directly above them

electrical lightboxes 
lit orange

that silently and modestly tried to redeem the heavy and glass paned doors  EXIT

Corporate policy doesnt get it both ways and as long as he was there he fought them

  

in the End

   

it was easier for the Company to sellout than fire him

and these many years later looking In and Back from Outside

his confident honest tact comforted him 
 

his utter tactlessness made him smile

2312,  Thursday,  28  8. 14