Finished — Summary

Dave BontaInspired

A hat to the office here, I end my contract, making an abstract home of the night.

Learn Poems app

Try the Learn Poems app

Everything from the website trainer, and more: new exercises, voice recording and sharing, reminders, quick review.

"Finished" is a tiny poem about walking away from a job and what comes after. The speaker ends a contract, and the first gesture is odd and a little playful: tipping a hat to the office, like a polite farewell to an old acquaintance rather than a angry exit. There's no bitterness here, just a calm, formal goodbye.

The last line carries the real feeling. Once work is over, the speaker makes "an abstract home of the night." That's a strange, interesting phrase. Night becomes a place to live in, but an abstract one, without walls or fixed shape. It suggests freedom, but also a bit of uncertainty, since the speaker has left behind a structure and has nothing solid to replace it yet.

The mood is quiet, relieved and slightly wistful. It feels like the moment after a long day ends, when you're free but not sure what that freedom looks like.

Read also

More by Dave Bonta

All poems
ContemplativeDave Bonta

Plea bargain

I hear half a beat of drum to serve time have half a hope in the meantime praise God
DreamyDave Bonta

Cibola 3

I awake in the dark and shake free of sheets & blankets, of down-filled quilt. The rituals of waking– the long, hot shower, the coffee–give
ContemplativeDave Bonta

In good light

On a maple’s pale bark, a zigzag ladder—old tooth-marks from a wandering snail? Green islands of moss