Files And Records Poem by Raj Arumugam

The unemployed, though without a job
and all the work associated with files and records
in computers or in rows and rows of dusty shelves in an office,
the unemployed too have
files and records to peruse and maintain. I, for example,
have various files: all the correspondence
I have with the State Department and its various
Regional Offices and its terminal points;
the correspondence with private organizations
and associations and unions...
See these?
These are notifications of changes and amendments
to the system; letters from the networks and
requests for a certified copy of a particular paper
that they do not have in their files or seem to
have misplaced.
(Oh, it could very well have been
misplaced by the previous person in charge...
And could you fill in this form?
Your previous return could
have been lost in the mail...)
The unemployed too have deadlines
with their minds employed in making sense
of a world of opportunities
and in the mind and in physical space
making order of the replies
and responses the inviting and tolerant world
gladly makes and promptly
to all enquiries. There are letters from private
and government establishments all represented by letterheads
with bold cries of departmental mottos of
progress, efficiency and equal opportunity and fairness.

(Are you a member of an underprivileged group? -
and yet, implied in others and presumably without prejudice -
Are you a member of our religious group?)

And after order, there is, in my case,
literary textual analysis: What do they mean by
The position drew candidates of a high caliber;
We urge you to apply to our future advertisements?




(from The Migrant - notes of a newcomer (February 1997- July 1998))