Working For Comfort

I asked my coworkers about what they find comfort in

I’m not giving up in the last minutes of this challenge just yet, I have to do my best to try to win

So, while sitting around at a table and taking a well-deserved break

I took out my notebook and pen and asked where they found comfort as of late

…

The young man to my left found comfort in reading books

He was a fan of Star Wars and J. R. R. Tolkien is what gets him hooked

Playing a saxophone, video games, and sipping a glass of nice tea

Going to Church, good stories, good friends, and exploring practices of his ancestry

…

When I asked the man who sat to my right

He told me of a pleasure that gave my father and I much delight

“Fishing, being out on the water, out in the nature, away from people with no deadlines.

No clocks, you can take a nap, as you just go on about and cast out your fishing line.”

…

Asking the man who sat across from me I took a stab

He told me that he finds comfort in eating the legs of crabs

The man to my right told him to head to a seafood buffet at the Casino, as much as one can grab

Corn, sausage, steamed potatoes, garlic butter, and the meat that comes out of shell, a juicy slab

…

As I asked the young lady at the tables end about what gave her a comfort fix

She told me, “A plush blanket with peppermint or eucalyptus oil, while binging some Netflix.”

Of course, there’s nothing like family especially cousins and she enjoys talking on the phone

The last thing I wrote down for her was hugs. People like to be by themselves, but not to be made alone.

…

As I talked to the mom that sat to her left, she spoke of home and being addicted to hugs

She enjoys cooking food, her favorite meal being spaghetti and green beans, her way to show love

She likes candles and cookies and brown sugar, things that give off warm smells

In a discussion of nostalgia, scent is an important memory role that it does play and tells

…

Then we talked as a group all at once. We talked about Spam, fried bologna, and special grilled cheeses

Meat pies, the joy of chopping food vs slicing it while wielding a knife, small acts that pleases

Our innate senses and abilities in which we seek comfort. Flavor food, like bacon that’s fried

These are all answers they gave me, of foods we’ve eaten before and tried

…

A man came by to take away the man on the right, I asked where he finds comfort, to his delight

“I like beer after I clock out,” is what he told me, is what he said. A beer he enjoys, a cheap Miller Lite.

“What else if I may?” He said he could not say. Not at work at least, but I recall how he likes to feast.

He told me before about video games, and smoking weed. Also, about making love to a woman to unleash his inner beast.

…

I walked around to another young man; he was perplexed with what I asked

“I’ve never been asked that before,” is what he told me through his mask.

He likes any type of food; this is what he said

He’s particularly fond of “Freshly baked oven bread.”

…

I asked a coworker just a few years older than me, to which he was not overjoyed.

His glasses fogged up at the long sigh. At my presence he seemed to be annoyed.

He told me that he enjoys a tennis, comic books, and a nice chair.

He quit working for our company this past week. He is no longer there.

…

I asked a coworker that was well experienced in his field

He was nervous about why I was asking him before an answer he would yield

He told me that he enjoys security, in a job and being physically protected

He enjoys good books instead of eating lunch. His hard work is systematic, practically perfected.

…

Another coworker told me that Venezuela is his place, it’s his home

He’s thousands of miles away, across the earth has he seemed to roam

He misses his family, his culture and food

Venezuela brings him such comfort, his home sets the mood

…

Another coworker told me that comfort for her is highly mood dependent

She told me that writing her novel in her notebook brings her joy, a little self-made attendant

She enjoys her mind’s work of being self-aware

Writing and read a good book, that’s her self-love, that is her self-care

…

A lady I asked that worked in a different department

Told me that her comfort is her house, she doesn’t live in an apartment

She loves her mom, her home, her property, as they help to set healthy barriers

She also loves her doggo, she finds comfort in her Yorkshire Terrier

…

A lady who taught me how to work my job at that place

Told me that her significant other brings a comforting smile to her face

She asked me why my question was so deep. Silence may be golden, but talk is never cheap.

She finds comfort in her kids, her children, and her garden. Of plants she has a lot, a whole heap.

…

The lady who sat next to her at lunch, we used to work together more closely, but not as of late

She moved to a higher position, a position that had more power and more weight

She likes nature and driving to the great lakes, chat with her friends (to shoot the shit)

She likes lying on a couch with a weighted blanket, one that’s been carefully knit

…

One lady told me home, “It’s comfy and where the heart belongs.”

Food is always great, she loves tacos, “Cilantro, onions, steak, chicken, carnitas, the whole throng.

Shopping, buying a nice pair of shoes and lovely purses.”

When it comes to comfort, this is what hers is.

…

A friendly wiser man told me that he enjoys tattoos

They don’t always have to have meaning or some odd weird philosophical view

He enjoys good books and TV shows, I remembered when he was talking about “The Sandman”

The last answer he told me was “My daughters,” they’re always his screensavers, he’s a family man

…

Near the end of the day a different group of people were asking me about my notebook

One lady grabbed it, and gave it a look

They were surprised that the handwriting was all in cursive

“I’ve been writing it for so long, print is no longer immersive.”

…

So, they talked about comforting things, so I scribbled then down in my notes

I wrote words of their phrases, to remember their quotes

“My girlfriend’s empanada’s,” “a bubble bath,” “home,” “silence,” “couch,” “my bed”

All of these people have answered what I asked, this is what they have said

…

Thank You