Melanie Griffin, 8/3/2015

Current Occupation: Human Resources
Former Occupation: Journalist
Contact Information: When Melanie Griffin is not working in HR at her favorite public library, she is running, singing karaoke, or helping coworkers nerd out about Doctor Who. Her poetry has been published in several local anthologies and on several national websites.

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"The Keeper of Death and Taxes"

She toils along the spectrum

from maternity ward to funeral home –

never quite touching cradle or grave –

without leaving her desk,

hidden by her piles of organized humanity.

She knows all

but lets people tell her

lets their confessions meet her paperwork prophesies

at a silent point of convergence

disguised as mere speedy work.

She leads with pencil

to double back in pen

once everything is as permanent as

the callus in the web of her thumb

approved, signed, stamped and smelling of ink

from the management shoes that only have a minute

to stop by.

She keeps her tears

and her laughs and her worries and her judgments

in separate jars hidden behind her tea mug

next to the brick of tax code, faithfully changed

and only when she runs out, does she count

her job as done.