I have adopted it as my own

– The black mug

Without design,

A simple shape

And graceful lip.

It rests in the office cabinet

Unfavored by those

With noisier tastes.

To me it is

Absence

Of complications ever-present,

A void

A cave

Where secret thoughts escape

The burning sun of conscription.

I broadcast no slogan,

No sardonic flag.

You cannot own

A pithy image,

Your co-worker in five words

Or even less.

I sip the black mug-

A moment of nondescription

Among tidy boxes.

I enter the void gladly

I escape.