Desk Butter

1. A stick of butter left on one’s work desk for an unreasonable length of time, gradually becoming less of a dairy product and more of a psychological landmark.

2. The quiet, absurd process of allowing a small, fixable problem to remain untouched for years because acknowledging it would require acknowledging everything else.

3. A physical manifestation of avoided grief, depression, or trauma; an object that begins as clutter and matures into evidence.

Woody kept meaning to throw it away, but by year three the desk butter had become load-bearing.

Desk Butter by Apocalypse Rod May 27, 2026