The Secret Omnipotence of Service Workers

[Mrs. Leach]

The salesman came in and began to chat, as they do
about the family that he missed and the town where he lived
and the blacks infiltrating his neighborhood and the Jews who were hiding the money from him

and he thought that I agreed, because of my blue eyes and desk clerk demeanor
but he didn't look at my books, piled near the computer, written by Spiegelman and Wiesel
and Morrison and Wideman and

I smiled and I gave him the key to his room for the night, previously evacuated
by another salesman, who checked out using a bottle of gin and a bottle of pills and also evacuated
his bowels as he died on the mattress which was flipped and febreezed
and I wished him a good night's sleep

[Carlene Miller]

Oh, Mrs. Leach, I love this poem. I have so felt this. I get so many customers at the pizzeria I work at who come in and share their intolerant beliefs. There was one a few weeks ago, who walked past an African American customer, and stated how he couldn't believe how many of "them" there were in the neighborhood, and laughed! I wanted to scream, but I had to have that customer service nod and smile. It disgusted me, so this poem really spoke to me.

[Angela]

Catherine---Wow. This is like a much needed slap in the face ; ) What a great example of how we can use poetry to make necessary statements and illuminate serious issues. Provocative.

[Stephanie]

I completely and utterly agree with this. I see so many people who have so called "good" values and morals in life look at others as though they are the scum of the earth because they were born differently than them. It's not right that so many people work so hard to get where they are and because of their religion, skin color, or ethnicity they get treated as though they are less. I too see this everyday whether it be in school or at work, I watch people get put down because of things they cannot control or change. Being human is what every one of us have in common with each other, and yet people seem to look at the differences rather than the similarities. Thank you for writing this.

[Rob Currin]

I'm embarrassed by the number of times I haven't said anything when this has happened to me. I'm sure that my silence has been perceived as agreement. Great poem.