Subtext  of  the  Vice  Chancellor  of  Finance’s  Address  to  UC  Support  Staff  About  the  Budget  Crisis

I’ve got my stash
Filled with cash.
Carefully guarded
With my learned rhetoric
24/7.

You can’t have any of it.
Don’t even think about it.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet
You’re all nameless and faceless
to me.

You’re easy to replace.
I’m not.

I don’t care how long you’ve worked here,
how much you appreciate being in
the “University environment.”
I don’t care about your rent or mortgage
or your child care expenses.
It’s not my problem.

When you have to cut
you cut.
And anyway,
I’m not responsible for this mess
so stop looking at me like that.

You can yell all you want,
This is, after all, the world famous center of “Free Speech.”

I bet you have a few things you’d like
to say to me in person.
Try and find me.

Instead
you can email any questions
and comments
to the address given on my website.
I want you to know
I fully support the democratic
expression of contrary opinions.

My assistant,
what’s-her-name,
will be happy to respond
depending on the volume of mail she receives.

I’d like to answer your questions myself,
give each one my
personal attention.
But I can’t.
I’m too busy.

I’m about to go on vacation
for a few weeks
or longer.
I’ve been under a lot of stress lately
and I need to get away–
from you.

~~~~~

Mike Palmer has published poetry and prose in the Berkeley Poetry Review, Milvia Street, Ultrarunning Magazine, Quiet Lightning 2.0, and the online journals Poets for Living Waters and Back Room Live.  He has an AB in English from UC Berkeley and works and lives in Berkeley, California.