Sunday, May 6, 2012

Words for the Expendable


Words for the Expendable

Due to legitimate concerns for the safety of the company, laid-off employees will be escorted to their cars by security staff.--An Employment Manual

On your last 
leg through gray hallways past 
silent doors observe: 
Fractals in the linoleum, the 
tips of your shoes, that made 
no difference after all. 
Your absence will linger 
briefly and be swallowed. Bear 
your box of stolen artifacts 
clanking 
a toast to redundancy.
They say every 
seventh year our bodies 
grow in new.
Pluck grace
from wicked nerve.
There through the exit, sky 
is in its gloaming,  
constellations 
waiting to descend.

--Kristen McHenry


1 comment:

Dick said...

A poem for our time. All great, but a killer final four four lines.