note to the secretary

"Dear Gloria, I received your email..." 
and it is frustrating
how the contract is still there, you 
find it indistinguishable from the one
form that is significantly different.
The instructions are clear and simple.
Due to circumstances, the contract

will have to be printed in three copies.
Signed by two offices. Mailed.
To the one office for the action.

The other form, you need to print
in one copy; then have the necessary 
person to sign it. Scan the form, email
it to me. I will take care of it.

"Dear Gloria, I received your email..."
which part confused you?
A part of me understands there must be
a hell of other things to mind, as it
always is the condition everywhere.
I do not know where you are coming from.
I try

to understand. Like the student who is
always asking for consideration, 
an extension, always saying she is doing

the work. If she could have a little more
time, appealing for understanding. 
How she is wrapped with the blanket
of color, dark and struggling. I try to

extend the breadth of understanding.
Push back the word that intends to quell.
The word that is impatient at the slow
to understand, at the constant asking
for understanding. "Dear student,

the world does not stop. I must fail you.
It is not alright to fail. But it is
alright when you cannot make this mark.
Some just don't. It is alright. 
There are other marks you can make."

"Dear Gloria, I received your email..."