No Love Poem by Margaret Alice Second

And why shouldn't I be the most humble person
at work, it's a bureaucracy - the mere fact that I'm
tolerated in such an environment is a miracle, why
not rejoice in the fact that I, a complete weirdo, is
privileged to have a government post, why try to

Disguise the fact that numbers & figures confuse
me, how claim to be a successful administrator
given my success rate which is as low as it can
go - why are you upset about my being honest
when confronted by our local Holy Firebrand:

The reincarnation of Torquemada himself, already
burning all people who dare to smoke & those with
tattoos in fire and brimstone; why do you want me
to stand up to the attacks of someone like that -
why can't I admit all the sins she ascribes to me -

That I exonerate murderers and such-like, never had
a problem with smokers or tattooed bodies, a down-
town man with a cigarette behind one ear does not
bother me - I look at what's inside, in the mind as
expressed by the voice, look at facial expression -

Our Holy Sister's using of a little-girl-voice and facial
expression of disgust when she sees things she
disapproves of… I hear and see no love…