By Anselm Brocki
Why feel guilt for my anti-
social need and enjoyment
to be alone during lunch
at work � not having to think
of someone else�s wishes
or carry on a customary
conversation about office
politics or a recent trip
but being able to choose
a favorite restaurant
be myself with no hemming
and hawing, take along recent
books on sociolinguistics,
evolutionary psychology,
or biology for any clues
on what makes us tick �
why guilt when it�s obvious
that natural selection was
working both sides of the
street when it selected most
of us to enjoy and depend
so much on others to survive
and a handful of loners
for discovery, like Archimedes
in the bathtub, Einstein
in the post office, and Alan
Turing in his room alone
at Princeton in 1983 creating
the math for the computer?
all of whom make me feel
less guilty even though
making no great discoveries.
In the past he has taught high school, was a senior editor for Houghton Mifflin and editorial coordinator for the Los Angeles City Schools. He is currently running his own editing business.