more time

People suffer deeply when time is divided

up

into rigid segments

mathematical management

focussed on efficiency 

productivity

and this relentless chase

for constant growth

more profit

more and more from less and less

it is brutal

it is a “violence against our soul” (Barre, 2020)

and it is traumatic

there is an emotional cost here that we have always been able to sense but now

we can feel it

and see it

on the faces of our colleagues

our friends and our families

the reality of it is upsetting

this year well will

give everything we have

and be told it wasn’t enough

that we still owe more

we will forever owe 

more

time.

References

1. Barre, R. R. 2020. Chronos Eats His Children: A Poetic Inquiry into Time as a Social Justice Issue. In Poetic Inquiry As Social Justice And Political Response. Vernon Press.

Notes

1. The featured image is a shot of my trials / notes / scribble when working on the ‘Barcode As An Icon Of Subservience’ piece. I was playing around with this at the same time and for some reason listening to Nirvana’s, ‘Heart-Shaped Box’. And I just scribbled down (incorrectly as it’s “new” not “real” as I wrote) the line, “Hey! Wait! I got a new complaint”. And I do. A fair few. This is one of them. The next line after “Hey! Wait! I got a new complaint” is “Forever in debt …”

2. And I just wanted to paraphrase / rewrite a few points from Robyn Reynolds Barre’s epic article, ‘Chronos Eats His Children’ into a tiny poetic piece

corporate capitalistic time is profane

but those who measure it otherwise are labelled

insane

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