Research Catalog

Title

The business : poems / Stephanie Lenox.

Author

Lenox, Stephanie

Publication

Fort Collins, Colorado : The Center for Literary Publishing/Colorado State University, [2015]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

77 pages; 22 cm.

Summary

"What does it mean to work in the age of the cubicle? The Business takes on the modern workplace with sharp-witted poems that sting like a paper cut. A former secretary, Stephanie Lenox positions herself as a poetic note-taker of the mundane. Organized by the classical components of Greek tragedy, these poems enact the relationships, heartbreaks, and small heroic efforts that make up our working lives. Think there's nothing poetic about annoying coworkers, endless meetings, and stained coffee mugs? Think again. While tragedy provides the organizational structure for this collection, humor plays a central role. This collection transforms office politics and paper clips into a funny and critical examination of the mortal rat race. If you've ever been fired, let go, unemployed, underemployed, or overlooked, these poems are for you. Begun on stolen reams of printer paper, this book reclaims the hours of our lives we give, out of necessity, to others in order to survive. --Back cover.

Series Statement

The Colorado prize for poetry

Uniform Title

• Poems. Selections
• Project Muse UPCC books.

Alternative Title

Poems.

Subjects

• Poésie
• Poetry
• poetry

Genre/Form

• poetry.
• Poetry
• Poésie.

Note

• "Winner of The Colorado Prize for Poetry"--Cover

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Awards (note)

• "Winner of the Colorado Prize for Poetry"-- cover.

Contents

Aubade for the first week -- Business -- On mythology -- Rejoice in the petty thievery of office supplies -- Management sends out a memo thanking its chairs -- Secretaries in heaven -- Task -- Sausage is the natural outcome of efficient butchery -- Fax machines are passing from our lives -- On metaphor -- Employee manual for mortals -- Teamwork -- Jam -- Small talk -- Ark -- Pencil -- Cost -- Big chief no longer wants to be boss -- Big chief takes a vacation -- Big chief considers the exact location of his heart -- Interview for position of mythological hero -- Attn: to whoever left fish uncovered in the office fridge for three weeks, THINK OF OTHERS!! -- Animal kingdom rejects human comparisons -- Out of office reply -- Old bosses in heaven -- Employees must wash hands -- Elegy for a briefcase -- On tragedy -- Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species -- Coworkers -- After the breakdown in communication, there is the required sensitivity training -- On being let go -- To serve is the highest form of love -- Babies are coming -- Hopelessly rubbing two pigs together -- Take-this-job-and-shove-it ode -- Last prayer -- Aubade for the next week.

ISBN

• 9781885635471 (pbk. : alk. paper)
• 1885635478 (pbk. : alk. paper)
• 9781885635488 (electronic) (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

^^2015029487

OCLC

915323980

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library