"library customer service or: in preference of the unruly" by benjamin niespodziany

For me, if you breathe
please and thank you, I will fall asleep.
 
If you frolic obnoxious, if you drop kick
books at me, if you spill coffee
 
on my boss's vest, yes, I will
kiss your boots.
 
The courteous patron
becomes the forgotten.
                       
It's the headache, the crass handful
the staff member remembers mid-dinner.
 
It's you in the crewneck
with the faded alumni card.
 
It's you in the crewneck
with a stack of back catalogs
 
hiding your face. I'm holding
your hand as you stab my side. 
 
I bleed out and check out
your books. You drum your fingers
 
on my forehead. I return to you
your card and remind you of due dates.
 
My brain is a name tag. You remove it
through my nostrils. I cry such
 
rainful joy as I waive late
fees and hate to clock out.

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Benjamin Niespodziany is a Pushcart Prize nominee with work in Fairy Tale Review, Paper Darts, Cheap Pop, and various others. He runs the multimedia art blog [neonpajamas] and works nights in a library.