Occupation
Arnold Johnston
Occupation is essential. And now with some pleasure I find that it's seven; and must cook dinner. Haddock and sausage meat. I think it is true that one gains a certain hold on sausage and haddock by writing them down.
Virginia Woolf, Final Diary Entry
She’s right. I take daily satisfaction
In performing simple tasks: preparing
Our morning coffee, pouring juice, making
The bed, loading clothes into the washer
Or dryer, doing dishes. Well, enough,
You get the point. It’s all about control:
Of yourself, of what’s around you. And she,
Not long after writing those final words,
Loaded her pockets with stones and waded
Into the Ouse, her final assertion
Of self, in fear of impending madness.
Lucky not to be mad, at least not yet,
And still in some control of daily life,
I potter from our bedroom, to kitchen,
To living room. I shave and exercise,
Fit as I can manage. And then I write,
My small attempt to gain a hold over
The sausage meat and haddock of my days.
MARCH 2026
Arnold Johnston
Occupation is essential. And now with some pleasure I find that it's seven; and must cook dinner. Haddock and sausage meat. I think it is true that one gains a certain hold on sausage and haddock by writing them down.
Virginia Woolf, Final Diary Entry
She’s right. I take daily satisfaction
In performing simple tasks: preparing
Our morning coffee, pouring juice, making
The bed, loading clothes into the washer
Or dryer, doing dishes. Well, enough,
You get the point. It’s all about control:
Of yourself, of what’s around you. And she,
Not long after writing those final words,
Loaded her pockets with stones and waded
Into the Ouse, her final assertion
Of self, in fear of impending madness.
Lucky not to be mad, at least not yet,
And still in some control of daily life,
I potter from our bedroom, to kitchen,
To living room. I shave and exercise,
Fit as I can manage. And then I write,
My small attempt to gain a hold over
The sausage meat and haddock of my days.
MARCH 2026
