Allan Drew works as a middle manager. Fifteen years ago he studied and trained in biochemistry and molecular biology. He is currently studying English at Massey University, where he is researching the use of corporate and business discourse in poetry.
Symmetry
I just counted eighty-eight people I haven’t seen for more than a year who I didn’t say goodbye to the last time we spoke. I’m not sure if that is good or bad. Realistically, it’s hard to know. One of the eighty-eight said that all the time. Realistically. It followed each sigh. A compulsive categorisation. If you write eighty-eight in digits, like this: 88, it is horizontally, vertically and diagonally symmetrical. I’m at my desk, which I got free with my lounge suite. It was a package deal. It wobbles because one leg is a few millimetres shorter than the others. I have jammed a paperclip under it for temporary relief. It occurs to me that there are probably more paperclips than there are people. I have hundreds, for example. Extrapolated, that’s more than six hundred billion paperclips on the planet. It just seems excessive. That number of metal office accessories could influence magnetic north. One of the eighty-eight, a woman I used to work with, would always say To put it in perspective. She had many things that required perspective. I bet she would love to talk about paperclips. I just thought of another one. That makes eighty-nine. It’s this guy who used to introduce his point before giving his point. He’d say Let me say this to you, and then he would say it. It provided a counterweight to his thrust. The more far-reaching his argument, the heavier the counterweight. He took forever to propose to his wife. They are still married, last I heard.
