Two Poems by Sean Cho A.

Image Credit: Oxana Lyashenko, obtained and licensed through Unsplash

Happy Poems don’t exist #1

The group of intern sun bears have built a strong bond
by commiserating in the coffee line and at the fax machine.
of course the old sun bear bosses are incompetent
have no concept of the modern world etc. etc.
there’s an equation about friendship equaling time
and like interests. none of the sun bears want to admit how cliche
it is to be enjoying each other's company & starfruit.
elsewhere younger sun bears are learning
about AI

*

sure the young sun bears do the majority of the work
for the mortgage company. we know verifying income
statements is hard work. is it though? do they have to
beat the truth out of the numbers? unlike the old
boss sun bear the young sun bears get paid no matter what.

Happy Poems Don’t Exist #8

The sun bear is very good at solitaire and
very good at looking like he’s not playing
solitaire while at work. the sun bear has two
states of mind waiting for lunch and waiting
for home. at home there’s always too long
before friday and sunday is loud. of course
it’s been awhile since he forgot about the
better life he could be having. although i imagine
sometimes there is joy

*

when the cards lineup like they are supposed to there’s a moment
of accomplishment. and when the sun bear wants to feel good
well just let him shuffle the cards. lunch breaks give the sun bear
something to look forward to. and coworkers can find common ground.
we have talked a lot about the weekend. don’t worry. it’ll come.

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Sean Cho A. is the author of American Home (Autumn House 2021), winner of the Autumn House Publishing chapbook contest. His work can be future found or ignored in Copper Nickel, Pleiades, The Penn Review, The Massachusetts Review, Nashville Review, among others. He is currently an MFA candidate at the University of California Irvine and the Associate Editor of THRUSH Poetry Journal. Find him @phlat_soda