Paper Cuts

Endless duplication of lives and objects.... -Theodore Roethke I have known the imperial power of secretaries, the awesome indifference of receptionists, I have been intimidated by desk & typewriter, by the silver jaws of the stapler & the lecherous kiss of the mucilage, & the unctuousness of rubber cement before it dries. I have been afraid of telephones, have put my mouth to their stale tobacco breath, have been jarred to terror by their jangling midnight music, & their sudden blackness even when they are white. I have been afraid in elevators amid the satin hiss of cables & the silky lisping of air conditioners & the helicopter blades of fans. I have seen time killed in the office jungles of undeclared war. My fear has crept into the paper guillotine & voyaged to the Arctic Circle of the water cooler. My fear has followed me into the locked Ladies Room, & down the iron fire stairs to the postage meter. I have seen the mailroom women like lost letters frayed around the edges. I have seen the Xerox room men shuffling in & out among each other like cards in identical decks. I have come to tell you I have survived. I bring you chains of paperclips instead of emeralds. I bring you lottery tickets instead of poems. I bring you mucilage instead of love. I lay my body out before you on the desk. I spread my hair amid a maze of rubber stamps. RUSH. SPECIAL DELIVERY. DO NOT BEND. I am open-will you lick me like an envelope? I am bleeding-will you kiss my paper cuts?