if clawson can post previously written work, i will follow his example with this poem about tax preparation.
peter d
Villanelle: April 15
Two hundred clients see me every year.
They call or e-mail, and we set a date
as, month by month, the filing deadline nears.
The organized, the ones who face their fears,
the ones due refunds (federal and state) --
I meet those clients early in the year.
Our sessions are relaxed -- my schedule's clear.
They've added their receipts; they're never late.
The calls come faster when the deadline's near.
Slow filers are predictable, though dear:
next time, they vow, they won't procrastinate.
April brings half my clients for the year.
In heart-to-hearts that no one else will hear
I jot down notes, ask questions, calculate,
hand them their tax forms as the deadline nears.
I've come to feel they always will appear --
old, young, singles, couples gay and straight --
That I'll see all two hundred every year.
But decades pass, and sterner deadlines near.
(published in 96 Inc, 1999)
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