Kodi Saylor
Memo: Clarifying Our Professional Values

Utilize our company tone in all of your official communications―beds asleep under moons will no longer be available on Tuesday―if possible your unofficial messages―manhandled by males the mailman weeps, he is catalogued as he―We strive to combine professionalism and authority with fun―body hair growing wild will not be tolerated all violators will report to AB500 [See Official Handbook, section 67b]―our records of cannon fire are soundless―our goal for the removal of things [ideas, animals, people, objects, earth phenomena organic and inorganic, etc.] harmful to society will be omitted from the official index―decisions made by the Board of Things will be enforced―your voice boxes will be removed for your own safety; our commitment to safety is deep―we rely on you to maintain control. Erase the mailman.

Memo: Manipulation and Use of the Data

People in the data processing community have gotten used to viewing things in a highly simplistic way—the gap between today and yesterday overcast—coffee on the stove boiling—smiles & overheard rover stunts—what the data means—hips & hands volcanic possession of your skin—Or is it the lost human element?—Greta, your hands belong to the company—those conversations with secretaries and clerks—belong to the company—about where things are and what they mean—you, Greta, are more essential to the system than we've realized—Greta, you are an octopus girl—or is there some other explanation.

Kodi Saylor received her MFA in poetry at New York University, where she was a Lillian Vernon Fellow. Her poems have appeared in the Ghost Ocean and Blue Mesa Review. She works at the Undergraduate Library in Chapel Hill, NC.