It took me awhile, but I finally got around to sending an audio link to my new friend, Lenny DeLaRocca at South Florida Poetry Review to accompany a poem of mine he and his editorial team accepted a few months ago. Lenny was able to get it added to the journal’s website where the poem appears. You do have to scroll down toward the end to find it: It’s called “Mary Is No Longer Working for the Company.” You can find it at this link:
https://www.southfloridapoetryjournal.com/poems-may-2018.html

Note: I did try to upload the audio file separately here, but WordPress is not letting me do it, so….you’ll just have to listen via the post for now…sorry, I hope to troubleshoot this shortly.

The poem speaks for itself, I think. The speaker takes on the subject of an abrupt departure of a co-worker and admittedly writes with a bit of cynicism about what’s so often seen in the corporate world (and yes, in academia, where I work as well.) I know enough about the politics of these things to realize that straight talk when it comes to employment dynamics is difficult to find, and of course there are reasons for that. All the same, none of this takes away from the effect that the painful departure of a co-worker or colleague can have on others who interact closely with that individual or have previously been constant in their orbit.

Enjoy!