“A Series of Complaints 1b” © Edward Michael Supranowicz

 

A very LEAN villanelle

The coffee gives me what I lack.
I take a first sip: scalding hot.
It changes my mood: bitter, black.

My inbox full, things I forgot.
The weekend soon recedes from view
The coffee gives me what I lack.

At nine a.m. we all allot
The never ending things to do
It changes my mood: bitter, black.

A meeting in my one free slot
My helpdesk call’s held in a queue
The coffee gives me what I lack.

Agile’s inventor should be shot
I’ve bullets for Six Sigma too
It changes my mood: bitter, black.

Somebody get me one more shot
There’s space in here for at least two
The coffee gives me what I lack.
It changes my mood: bitter, black.

 

Former waiter in a Love Boat themed restaurant, reformed mandarin, and extroverted accountant, Joel Glover is a cuddly teddy bear, really.
He lives in the woods of Hertfordshire with two boys and one wife. In a house, not a nest. He knows how that sounds.

Edward Michael Supranowicz is the grandson of Irish and Russian/Ukrainian immigrants. He grew up on a small farm in Appalachia. He has a grad background in painting and printmaking. Some of his artwork has recently or will soon appear in Fish Food, Streetlight, Another Chicago Magazine, The Door Is A Jar, The Phoenix, and The Harvard Advocate. Edward is also a published poet who has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize multiple times.