The Hamlet Project

This is funny.
I’m writing an angry blog entry on another page
About how, in all my jobs,
No one really asks me what I think.
I realize that all it would take
To make me feel included
Are these simple words.
What if one of the organizations I work for
Evaluated themselves and said to me,
“Stay and Speak?”
I can’t speak uninvited.
My position is tenuous;
There is no guarantee that there will be work;
This season
Or next.
I am at the mercy of the people who dole out the gigs.
So I just grumble over drinks with my fellow migrant workers.
I have ideas about how the apple gets picked.
I have suggestions for increasing our efficiency
But they will curl themselves up into nothing
Because no one will say “Stay and speak.”
Mostly I go to the orchards and stay silent.
That is the preferred mode
The safe mode
The way that will keep me on the good side.
It keeps me from spilling out critique.
It keeps me nodding and smiling.
I will go.
And say nothing.