Poetry Magazine
To Whom it May Concern
For Harry Cobb
Soon I’ll move to Norway.
If that’s a bitter pill,
well, swill, swallow. I’m going,
and I won’t wallow, not in Norway,
where they’re so beyond
slave labor, with laws that say
a clerk must work within five
meters of a window through
which she can see a tree
and by that tree be seen.
My mind’s made up.
I will be Norwegian with Norwegian
trees. I’ll be seer and be seen.
It’s a scenic scene, it’s
how it goes, I’m going.
Tell the top brass, if
they ask, I don’t give
a damn about their asses.
But I will miss the beeches and the ashes.
It’s not their fault I’m leaving.
They’re only trees, and
leaving, I’m Norwegian.
Source: Poetry (January 2010).
Biography
Andrea Cohen's books include Kentucky Derby (2011) and Long Division (2009), both from Salmon Poetry. She directs the Blacksmith House Poetry Series in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Poem Categorization
SUBJECT Activities, Jobs & Working, Social Commentaries, Life Choices
Poetic Terms Free Verse
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