Proprietary
By Randall Mann
In a precisely lighted room, the CFO speaks
of start-to-start dependencies.
Says let me loop back with you.
Says please cascade as appropriate.
It’s that time of morning, so we all can smell
the doughnut factory. If scent were white
noise, doughnuts would be that scent.
The factory won’t sell at any price.
The building next to it burns the animals
we experiment on. I have worked
on a few preclinical reports in my time.
The rhesus monkeys become
so desperate that they attempt suicide,
over and over again. I am legally obligated
to spare you the particulars.
How could things be any different?
Here many choice molecules have been born.
Here. This pill will dissolve like sugar.
Your last five months will be good ones.
Source: Poetry (April 2013)