the janitor
(two cubes away)
hurls arabic down his cel phone,
and it distracts me
from the subliminal beat of the pop music
on his radio
(britny spears, i think)
(or maybe j-lo)

i try to concentrate
i want to go home
(take off this uniform, and so on)
but the heat of his words
and the foreigness of them
attract my ears

confusion: why does he have a cel phone?
confusion: why don't i?
confusion: i'm in his realm, the realm of After Hours, and this 
space is his space now,
so why do i feel invaded?

he hangs up, returns to emptying dustbins
j-lo changes to n*sync, and fades as he walks away
i re-entrench before i fade away

2 responses total.

Wow!  That's really good.  I love the imagery of hurling arabic.  The third
confusion point confuses me though.  Perhaps the wording is awkward, or
perhaps I am too tired to know what the hell I am blabbering about.

In any event, well done.

Robert!! you're alive!

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