Probationary Period
Upon being hired by the Company, all new employees must serve a ninety (90) calendar day trial period. Your performance will be carefully monitored during this period.
They say there’s cameras but they won’t tell us where.
See, there’s all these little games you have to play.
I can’t explain, you have to just know them.
Lois was the gal before you. Just between us,
she was let go. We had to let Lois go, they said
all delicate, as if we didn’t know a thing in this world.
As if we couldn’t see for ourselves exactly what went on.
Well what happened was she just stopped wearing bras.
No one had the gall to say it to her face, but
everybody knew. Can you imagine, a gal that age,
flapping around with stretched-out cans showing
straight through her old-lady blouses. She went on that way
for weeks. Angie says it’s ‘cause she never did have kids.
It does something to a woman’s head in old age,
according to Angie but of course Angie
wears crystals and reads cards in the lunchroom. Boss
ever found that out about there’d be hell, but
no one rats out Angie ‘cause they’re scared she might have
powers. You’ll do alright here. You’ll be okay. Just
watch for them cameras and keep in some decent brassieres.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kristen McHenry is a resident of Seattle, Washington and is a poet by night, and supervisor of volunteers for an urban hospital by day. Among other publications, her work has been seen in Bare Root Review, Numinous, Tiferet, Sybil's Garage, Big Pulp, and the anthology Many Trails to the Summit, published by Rose Alley Press. She was a top-five finalist in the 2009 national poetry competition “Project Verse.” Her chapbook “The Goatfish Alphabet” was runner-up in qarrtsiluni's 2009 chapbook contest and was published by Naissance Press in 2010. Her second chapbook, “Triplicity: Poems in Threes” was published by Indigo Ink Press is 2011. Kristen serves on the editorial staff for Literary Bohemian, and teaches creativity workshops in her “spare” time. She lives in the Ballard neighborhood with three cats, four fire-bellied toads, and one husband. She loves to sing, but only in the car with all of the windows rolled up.
See more, including free online content, on Kristen McHenry's author page.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Tammy Ho Lai-Ming is a Hong Kong-born writer currently based in
London, UK. She is a founding co-editor of Cha: An Asian Literary
Journal and the poetry editor of Fleeting magazine. Her photography has previously been published in Stirring, Juked, Litterbox, and Subliminal Interiors, among other places. More at
sighming.com.
See more, including free online content, on Tammy Ho Lai-Ming's author page.
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