Vocation

For six months I dealt Baccarat in a casino. 

For six months I played Brahms in a mall. 

For six months I arranged museum dioramas;

my hands were too small for the Paleolithic

and when they reassigned me to lichens, I quit. 

I type ninety-one words per minute, all of them 

Help. Yes, I speak Dewey Decimal.

I speak Russian, Latin, a smattering of Tlingit. 

I can balance seven dinner plates on my arm.

All I want to do is sit on a veranda while 

a hard rain falls around me. I'll file your 1099s. 

I'll make love to strangers of your choice. 

I'll do whatever you want, as long as I can do it 

on that veranda. If it calls you, it's your calling, 

right? Once I asked a broker what he loved 

about his job, and he said Making a killing. 

Once I asked a serial killer what made him 

get up in the morning, and he said The people