Saturday’s Child
“Saturday’s child works hard for a living.”
—nursery rhyme
A Kanban chart festoons a wall with color-coded squares.
_____Across from it
Claire’s hung an organizational chart above the chairs
_____Where lessers sit.
A framed diploma honks about the PhD she earned
_____From some State school.
She keeps the glass streak-free, for Claire has learned
_____Which standards rule.
Her Excel sheets contain the people, dates, resources, times
_____For every job
She oversees. Her on-line planner sorts Claire’s day with chimes,
_____An hourly fob!
‘She has the work under control,’ her lessers say and wink,
_____Before they scamper.
Her open door enthrones her will and taxes all they think.
_____She likes to tamper.
And at the end of day, Claire checks her to-do list and marks
_____The tasks undone,
Then tidies up her desk, assesses how she met benchmarks,
_____If today she won.
All her subordinates are gone before she dims the lights.
_____She checks their spaces
For work they might have left. Lessers always need oversight.
_____Claire covers all her bases.
Mary Cecelia Bowman is a retired high school English teacher who lives in Southern Arizona and teaches freshman composition as an adjunct. Her poetry has appeared in America magazine.
