Jason Ridpath's poem is a short, tired complaint about working a job just to stay afloat. The speaker calls himself a "wage slave," and the word choice tells us how he sees his situation: not as honest work, but as something forced on him. The opening line suggests that work pulls him "out of the depths" for only "an hour or four," as if he spends the rest of his time sunk in some low place, and the job offers only a brief, reluctant surfacing.
The feeling here is exhaustion mixed with frustration. He can't cope with "repetitive chores," and he says he can't stay "tethered to my debt any more." Yet the last line, "No choice but to endure," shuts the door on any escape. The mood is heavy and resigned. The short, flat lines make it sound like someone running out of energy, and the title, "Why Do I Do This to Me," adds a note of self-blame, as though the speaker is both victim and participant in his own trap.