A Lawyer's Desk Poem by anasuya balla

random papers
(my arian monkey, congo)
scrutiny into the lives of corporation Y
(the odd phone text that make me smile)
credit card payments lined in red
(payment dates in colours unsaid)

it is in this mess
(of words unknown and sold souls)
that hurls deadlines,
(most imaginary, some true)
that I find words
(some not mine)
combat in shabby scribbles
on the sides of my legal pad

i could have told you about animal ambition
but that’s too oft said
so ill let you in the gray
of my secret head-

i sit with a face
that looks stern as if it were
looking into an agreement
that is not even there

if I was seen,
a laugh I would be
but i know they cant
afford to set me free.