Once Thought is a poem I wrote during my first year in the corporate world. I would hide out in the coffee shop across the street from work during my lunch break to write poems — coming back to life for those precious 30 minutes. I always imagined myself doing something magnificent for work, but there I was in a windowless office instead. And so I thought: “it’s not hero’s journey, afterall.” Listen to a recording of me reciting the poem with musical accompaniment by Joe Brooker. Many thanks, faraway friend.