Day 24 Poem: first job interview

 

first job interview
 
she woke having not slept very well
eyes dry and burning like bleached bones in the Gobi Desert
picked out the outfit she would wear wilted
as her rose stems of dropped petals, her ‘good luck for the job’ bouquet
off to take the bus which she missed
as it sped by enveloping and absorbing her in its smoky exhaust fumes
 
a little late now she stepped anxiously and
quickly onto marble floored immense lobby jumpy as a cat on a hot tin roof
focus! she sought out the office number
eyes darting like a lizard’s looking for unsuspecting wholesome prey
yes! and she bee-lined to the elevator like
the darting tongue of that same lizard having found its next lively meal
 
moving upward three floors new heaviness under her feet
like the ankle weights she used during her random occasional workouts
ushered in she sat smiling but tense within
a mouse watching a cat still unmoving waiting ready to pounce
looking down she saw her hands resting on her lap
two disembodied creatures drawn from the deep unable to move
 
home before she knew it the interview over she found
her mind full of nothing and as blank as an empty green school board
later an email arrived confirming she had been hired
and she did a happy rendition of Alex’s What a Feeling Flashdancing for her life
monday morning she stepped briskly and
quickly onto marble floored lobby smiling like a Cheshire cat…she was home.
 
Penelope Olive
 
Prompt for today: write a poem in which you describe something using similes, often with ironic or sarcastic tone.