Where Do You See Yourself In Five Years? The man on the other side of the table is a variety of sneezes, held together inside beige by sheer force of lack of will. What he’s smelled out there is more sensible than me, but I don’t so much fault him as marvel at his restraint. In the face of all joy, this man chooses the sour eye. He gets excited at the prospect of a new tie on father’s day. His hair is a damp smattering of crumbs from other people’s meals, and he’s proud of its pedigree—carries a laminated copy. Everything about him is something I don’t understand, something I would avoid at all costs, and vice versa, but the difference is he holds the soft feathers of my future in his sweaty palms and all I hold is the bill.
About the Author: Raised on a rice and catfish farm in eastern Arkansas, CL Bledsoe is the author of more than twenty-five books, including the poetry collections Riceland, Trashcans in Love, Grief Bacon, and his newest, The Bottle Episode, as well as his latest novels Goodbye, Mr. Lonely and The Saviors. Bledsoe co-writes the humor blog How to Even, with Michael Gushue located here: https://medium.com/@howtoeven His own blog, Not Another TV Dad, is located here: https://medium.com/@clbledsoe He’s been published in hundreds of journals, newspapers, and websites that you’ve probably never heard of. Bledsoe lives in northern Virginia with his daughter.
Image Credit: Carol M. Highsmith “Office Interior” (between 1980 and 1990) The Library of Congress.
As It Ought To Be 