Roleplaying in Boardrooms and Bedrooms by Emma Bolden

Roleplaying in Boardrooms and Bedrooms

Emma Bolden

Hello Mr. Policeman. Hello Mrs. Robinson.
Hello m’am or mister, I am here to repair
your coffee. I am here to brew the copier.

I am here with this package, ready as a sign.
There’s breathing and room in this bed
where we keep pillows in folders, documents

in shams. Every promise is a loan, every morning is
an alarm clocked over pavement that tastes as instant
as socks, woolen as creamer. There are contingencies

planned in safe places: Bic pens and prophylactics,
carafes balanced bedside with manners. Here is
a briefcase of boxer shorts. Here is a memo

pad to track the miles you snore through
in sleep. Oh honey, hello there. You can launder
my money in the same machine as sheets.

Emma Bolden is the author of two full-length collections of poetry, medi(t)ations (Noctuary Press, 2016) and Maleficae (GenPop Books, 2013). She received a 2017 Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and her work has appeared in The Best American Poetry, The Best Small Fictions, Poetry Daily, The Rumpus, StoryQuarterly, Prairie Schooner, Conduit, and other journals.

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