Interview

I want this job because 
it sounds like something I could do 
and I’m hungry, physically. 
I have extensive experience 
in studying what water says as it plummets.
Yes, I can carry more than 35lbs, but what 
does that have to do with anything? 
I’ve wrestled angelic beings 
and the nine lives of pathological compulsion.
I have sworn an oath against the roman calendar 
and its derivative mutations. 
I can be firm as cold turkey. 
My two letters of recommendation are
f and u. They can be used in surf, which 
is one way to step on what wants me drowned. 
I have heard the hinges of the doors of the sea 
creak, so I read a book beneath a tree. 
I think a lie can be worse than murder but also 
I have never died. I can definitely think of a time 
when I had to multitask while under immense pressure, 
but would prefer not to. My goal is to recall my past lives 
and be free in each. My strength is being scattered 
and rooted at the same time. My weakness is entertaining 
a party of every kind of consequence. 
My kink is a copless land where no one hoards anything.
I can start on any day you are prepared to train.
I can end on any day that ends in why not, 
for real, I don’t need this, 
the people got me you know, 
I’m with the people. 

Copyright © 2024 by Jordan Kapono Nakamura. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on January 24, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets. 

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“This poem was written while looking for work, swimming in the vocabularies of potential utility to employers and overseers. Despite repeatedly offering testimony that I’d be an ideal ‘human resource,’ a suitable worker to uphold the empire of business-as-usual, often I’d be denied and fall back on the support of my community and EBT [electronic benefit transfer]. I wanted to give a kind of fantasy interview wherein I could be far more honest, and also have it as a reminder not to be afraid. I’d like to dedicate this poem to anyone risking the loss of or losing work because of their solidarity with Palestine.”
—Jordan Kapono Nakamura