mister important
likes to come in
during the last fifteen minutes
of the day
he stays until closing
because he can
he likes to let you know
that he pays your salary
you can tell he’s mister important
because he reads the new york times
even though he lives in the part of Brooklyn
where the tour buses won’t dare to come
mister important says,
um, excuse me,
if you turn off the lights
a minute before closing
if he sees you grab for your hat and coat
well, there’s always one more thing that he needs
mister important says
that he knows people at your main office
important people
people like him
why, he has so many friends at the main office
that he can’t even name them all
but he’ll mention such’n’such
and if you don’t know their name
he’ll give a knowing smile
mister important
likes when we keep it clean
if the bathroom is a mess, he’ll let you know
if there’s garbage on the floor
he’ll come over and say,
now, what are we going to do about this?
we meaning you
then mister important stands there
with his arms crossed
expecting you to get up
and start picking up garbage
before he has to go and mention
all of his important friends
at the main office
but if you take too long to hop to it
or won’t give him the satisfaction
by acting like you just don’t care
mister important will take it upon himself
to bend over in his important polyester pants
and clean up every last bit of trash
before putting on his coat and storming out
turning back at the door and saying
like he always does
well, we’ll see
if somebody has a job tomorrow.
*****copyright John Grochalski
John Grochalski is a significant American poet with multiple publications. He also publishes and edits 'winedrunk sidewalk: shipwrecked in trumpland', which has chronicled every day of the catastrophic and criminal Trump presidency with poetry from all over the world.
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