José Vadi is an award-winning essayist, poet, playwright and film producer. He is the author of Inter State: Essays from California and Chipped: Writing from a Skateboarder's Lens.
Ceilings
the opacity of this ceiling chaps my
fingertips / cursors bend nail into
molded ergo palms / cryogenic my posture
feels in this precursor to automated everything
we are the user experience engendered from
board room to elevator to catered buffet to 401(k) workshop
this ceiling’s ventilation was acquired after the third tech boom
inherited from wartime computerization / DoD contracts /
post-war plans for GI class / this motherboard has
a licensed Jim Crow affiliate in Pleasanton / an antebellum
offshore account in Argentina
we have been the industry
driven by data for years (now) it’s handheld
to our optimized touch
this ceiling is in
my back pocket
the tip of my nose / it smells
like two hundred year old insulation;
like my next breath.
