By Paul Handley
Strike that, she ordered,
and quickly interjected after her comment
and before anyone else’s,
including her own on another subject.
Sorry, if the sin from the past was compounded,
and if that isn’t enough,
I goofed.
I’ve been slightly off-kilter
for the past five minutes.
I think it behooves us all to get beyond this.
Let’s get back to the nub.
We seem to keep circling the pond looking for water.
My bad.
No, I did not provide the best example for my peers.
Sorry, I’m not saying we are not all of equal status here.
Let’s get back to the nub,
and that this is not some egalitarian commune.
Strictly speaking no one here is my peer.
Not that I’m elevated above everyone else here.
It’s a simple bureaucratic formula
that creates a hierarchy in terms of position,
without any reflection of intrinsic value.
I goofed by not giving fair warning
and not giving you and I mean the royal you,
the chance to overlook
what has already been committed.
Yes, maybe a blanket apology is useless and I would appreciate it
if each and everyone of you would meet with me
in my dressing room later so I can apologize.
Don’t be offended if I’m talking through an armhole
or balancing on one leg as I get my pants on,
one leg at a time as you will notice.
Perhaps we will talk about the entire issue
instead of in dribs and drabs.
I seem to be apologizing everyday at seemingly random intervals.
She scans the room with an effort at caginess,
looking for a conspiracy tell.
She starts; we seem to be circling back on ourselves
with doors closing as we approach, but
my dressing room will be open. Not closed.
Clutching at Straws 