But his most successful and longest-term job was probably the most boring job possible: low-level federal bureaucrat....
It’s hard to believe, but writers made nothing from their books until the invention of copyright in the 18th century. Instead, they relied on wealthy patrons to make a living. Shakespeare is said to have received an astonishing £1,000 for his flowery dedications to the Earl of Southampton (though it was more probably a still wildly generous £100).
Walt Whitman had a lot of jobs: journalist, pressman and teacher, among others. He was a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, as evidenced by his fascination with occupations in many Leaves of Grass poems. But his most successful and longest-term job was probably the most boring job possible: low-level federal bureaucrat.
By Amna Ameer
While others
Will dream
About better times
The harvest moon
Will only remind me
About each time I prayed
For you to stay
And every fortnight
You still left
Taking away
A part of me
A wish, a hope
To be better
Now a blank page
For regrets
Shadowed by the moonlight
All there’s left to say
Is that may be
A miracle will save
What is gone
Into the winds
Like old songs
Forgotten
Betrayed
By Aysha Alam
We get involved to be here together
Living our dreams as if it is going to be forever
Who knows? I wish you knew your man, you knew your girl
With the desire to see their spikes or curls
Falling in love, having those hugs
But are they from the wrong ones?
I wish we could all figure it out
Knowing the names speaking out loud
By Abdullah Tahir
The world needs boring movies
For there to be good ones
There must be infinite stupidity
For there to be Einsteins
You need a taste of melancholy
To understand what’s fun
Don’t try fitting in
Life isn’t a puzzle
It’s like Abstract Art
Try to understand it
