In case you missed it, NPR ran a good feature on poets’ second jobs a couple days ago. I particularly like Lawrence Joseph’s thoughts on the working self and the writing self: “It certainly is not the only ‘self’ in my work, but I’ve wanted, since my first book, to let the reader know that the poet writing the poem is, among his other identities, also a lawyer.”

When I worked as a bookseller, I tried to write a poem about cash flow at the register once–it didn’t work. What ‘other selves’ make it into your work–or don’t–because of your day job, folks?