Endless duplication of lives and objects.... <br />-Theodore Roethke <br /> <br />I have known the imperial power of secretaries, <br />the awesome indifference of receptionists, <br />I have been intimidated by desk & typewriter, <br />by the silver jaws of the stapler <br />& the lecherous kiss of the mucilage, <br />& the unctuousness of rubber cement <br />before it dries. <br /> <br />I have been afraid of telephones, <br />have put my mouth to their stale tobacco breath, <br />have been jarred to terror <br />by their jangling midnight music, <br />& their sudden blackness <br />even when they are white. <br /> <br />I have been afraid in elevators <br />amid the satin hiss of cables <br />& the silky lisping of air conditioners <br />& the helicopter blades of fans. <br />I have seen time killed in the office jungles <br />of undeclared war. <br /> <br />My fear has crept into the paper guillotine <br />& voyaged to the Arctic Circle of the water cooler. <br />My fear has followed me into the locked Ladies Room, <br />& down the iron fire stairs <br />to the postage meter. <br /> <br />I have seen the mailroom women like lost letters <br />frayed around the edges. <br />I have seen the Xerox room men <br />shuffling in & out among each other <br />like cards in identical decks. <br /> <br />I have come to tell you I have survived. <br />I bring you chains of paperclips instead of emeralds. <br />I bring you lottery tickets instead of poems. <br />I bring you mucilage instead of love. <br /> <br />I lay my body out before you on the desk. <br />I spread my hair amid a maze of rubber stamps. <br />RUSH. SPECIAL DELIVERY. DO NOT BEND. <br />I am open-will you lick me like an envelope? <br />I am bleeding-will you kiss my paper cuts?<br /><br />Erica Jong<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/paper-cuts-6/
