Working Travails

by Carole Mertz

He likes to maintain a calm temper in the face of adversity
even though his hours are reduced
and Mellie’s moving away.
So Gregor no longer takes morning coffee with him.

Even though his hours are reduced,
the manager hovers over him;
so Gregor no longer takes morning coffee with him.
He knew the night would be long—

the manager hovers over him.
Somehow the mortgage will be met.
He knew the night would be long
since a woman became CEO.

Somehow the mortgage will be met—
and Mellie’s moving away.
Since a woman became CEO,
he likes to maintain a calm temper in the face of adversity.

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Poems by Carole Mertz appear in The Lutheran Digest, Page & Spine, Rockford Review, The Write Place at the Write Time, and WestWard Quarterly. Her essays and reviews are in Copperfield Review, The Conium Review, Ascent Aspirations, WOW! Women on Writing, Arc Poetry Magazine, Working Writer, World Literature Today, and in various anthologies. Her tips on writing are included in Writing after Retirement, Smallwood and Redman-Waldeyer, Eds. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014). Carole studied music and fine art in Salzburg, Austria and in Oberlin College, Ohio.