Proceeding to the letter Poem by Paul Bogaert

Proceeding to the letter
and in the spirit of the scheduled starting time
he checks the buoys and the temperature
and shyly he traverses the zones.

- Hello colleague who, with pipettes and pots, lids
and mini-labels, securely honours the procedures.
- Hello Mister Chlorine Shock, drop dead and I'll pay you
homage on the homepage.
- Good morning trainee with the sweet-and-sour grin.
- Hello colleague with the nice collage of plasters
(but must we have that in our canteen?) so early already
almost in the arms of the one with that squeaky Styrofoam voice.
- Hello gnome shower, once again today plainly obscene.
- Hello treacherous waterfall, tedious thing.
- Hello double massage water jet, I'll see you later.
- Hello Sea Wave the Sea Wave that's still of course asleep, tired
from all that unremitting, indifferent firmness and kindness.
- Hello underwater injection, how vigorous you are once more.
- Hello little rattling flap in the cursed corner.
- Hello hose pipe with the obstinate coil.
- Hello dripping tap.

Proceeding to the letter
and in the spirit of the scheduled starting time
he climbs (with stiff calves) in a routine way onto his chair.
There his shift bursts open
and in one spurt his attention gushes out.

Translation: Diane Butterman