Imagine

I am thirteen
Perched on a
Ladder scraping
The second-floor window
Wooden frame reading a science
Fiction paperback while my father
Frowns up at me asking how can
I do two things at once and both
Well to which I reply safe up the
Ladder how hard can it be to
Scrape old paint so better to
Utilize my time by reading
Part of the time which
Both infuriates and
Amuses him as it
Has a logic hard
To refute from
The ground.
Of course
One can
Not do
Two
Things at
Once even if
We imagine we
Can which is the
Basis of both head
Phones and the current
Fad that highly trained
Professionals can be
Made to act as their
Own secretary and
File clerk but no
One can do
Two things
At once
As well
As one
Thing at
A time no
Matter how
Poor managers
Might imagine fake
Savings in staff from
Asking police and doctors
To spend more time filling out
Report forms than doing
What they were trained
To do best but just
Imagine if one
Could scrape
By with a
Book in
Hand
And a scalpel
Or pistol in the other.