"A Death at the Office"

The news goes desk to desk

like a memo: Initial

and pass it on. Each of us marks

Surprised or Sorry.

The management came early

and buried her nameplate

deep in her desk. They have boxed up

the Midol and Lip-lce,

the snapshots from home.

wherever it was--nephews

and nieces, a strange, blurred cat

with fiery, flashbulb eyes

as if it grieved. But who grieves here?

We have her ballpoints back,

her bud vase. One of us tears

the scribbles from her calendar.