Underemployment
crosses and recrosses
its legs on curbs and marble benches
all over town
plays Premier league football with chipped
mosaic tiles it stumbles across
shuffling its nowhere circuit
violently whips
its keychain rosary
from hand to palm
palm to hand
rearranges quince and citrons
it is trying to sell to no one
from a cart tucked among a dozen such
swooshes imaginary flies from manikins
with a polyester cat-o’-nine-tails duster
in a store that few frequent
in a warren of stores
few know exist
nurses café au lait at dusk every day
nurses the bottle of water
that accompanies café au lait in every café
nurses a pressing thought that has not yet gelled but
blessed be the provider
most assuredly will
About the Author
In addition to That hum to go by (Mammoth books), Jeff Schiff is the author of Mixed Diction, Burro Heart, The Rats of Patzcuaro, The Homily of Infinitude, and Anywhere in this Country. His work has appeared in more than a hundred publications worldwide, including The Alembic, The Cincinnati Review, Grand Street, The Ohio Review, Poet & Critic, Tulane Review, Tampa Review, The Louisville Review, Tendril, Pembroke Magazine, Carolina Review, Chicago Review, Hawaii Review, Southern Humanities Review, River City (The Pinch), Indiana Review, Willow Springs, and The Southwest Review. He is currently serving as the interim dean of the school of graduate studies at Columbia College Chicago, where he has been on faculty since 1987.