the best job ever for me was being a part-time janitor for Facilities Management of my old school back in the mid-90s. the job took only a couple of hours to do, and the rest of the time was devoted to reading and scribbling. I did a lot of scribbling then, not necessarily writing, but copying poems I loved trying to get to their essences, how they worked.

it was a night-time gig: 10:00 pm to 2:00 a.m. but the campus at the time was obviously devoid of any signs of life, except for the other custodians. the best place to work was the library, because I had the whole place to myself.

that job, and my next, working as the manager for a recycling center for a small non-profit, were absolutely indispensable, they were part of my apprenticeship, much more than the classes I was taking and the lectures I attended.

I do not mean school was not important to me, it was, but the time and solitude both those occupations afforded me were invaluable to my reading and writing. I learned much then and those jobs helped develop the habits and discipline I needed for wage-earning that take more time and energy from me.

but what would be the ideal job for a poet? teaching, carpentry, labor?