the little king

This is a poem from “loopwork: my life as a bureaucrat,” which can be found on the “Poetry Collections” page of this web site.

faltering

friendless

he plays the part

of

magnanimous ruler

generous dictator

and

organizer of the masses

but

gets no rave reviews

◊◊◊

dwarfed

by an office

of grand proportions

hoping

his adversaries

are at least as intimidated

by it all

as he is

◊◊◊

celebrating

alone

the passage

of one more year

ensconced

(captive!)

in his hard ego-shell

while unwitting colleagues

hope for his

(or their)

release