Honorable Mention – 2009 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards
TEN MINUTES by Anthony Buccino
Ten minutes after you're gone
scavengers raid your old desk.
Who takes the stapler
Who takes the tape
Who splits with the Post-its
and who grabs the letter opener?
Who take the box of staples
in the drawer with the binder clips?
Who fights over your old pens,
even the ones that don't work?
Who grabs your office stationery
and rubber stamp collection,
your used Emory board
and the good scissors?
Who rifles your drawers for matches,
loose change and one-cent stamps?
Who trashes your kid's picture
and walks off with the glass frame?
Who grabs the blank white cards
from your old Rolodex?
Who fills your pencil holder
with salt and pepper packets
and slithers away?
Who takes your broken key chain,
the open deck of cards
the pocket calculator
and so many little pieces of junk
with other companies' names?
Who takes your reference books
and the good dictionary, too?
Wait till they find what you left
behind in the fridge.
Ten minutes after you're gone
no one remembers your name.
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First published in Paterson Literary Review
CANNED
Booted, bumped, down-sized, fired, forced out, hated, hired, jobless, laid off, let go, out of work, out-sourced, pink-slipped, terminated, sacked, unemployed
by Anthony Buccino
