The Sassoon Collection: vii. The Manager
Here is the seventh of Zumwalt’s revisions to his set of ten poems in his Sassoon Collection.
vii. The Manager
‘Good-morning; good-morning!’ the well-rested Manager said
When we worked through the night
To finish on time the urgent task he failed
To review and release until late afternoon.
And we mock his insincerity as a matter of routine:
‘I work for you’, ‘What can I do
To help you finish sooner?’
As our stomachs growl from coffee machine brew,
But nonetheless, still polite to his face
Since his judgment alone rates our performance.
— zumwalt (2011, revised 2026)
Admin’s Note: This is the seventh piece in Zumwalt’s ten-poem tribute to poet Siegfried Sassoon, The Sassoon Collection, originally written in 2011, recently revised. The Manager is based on Sassoon’s The General. It replaces the incompetent World War I commander (“‘Good-morning; good-morning!’ the General said / When we met him last week on our way to the line”) with a modern office superior, shifting the soldiers cursing “incompetent swine” to workers mocking the manager’s insincerity.
