Eternal Recurring Meeting

The Pentagon said Friday that it had killed ISIS’ finance minister, Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, whom many analysts consider the group’s No. 2 leader.

–CNN

The inbox full. The voicemail light is blinking.

Who leaves voicemail anymore? he asks

himself. There are too many red-flagged tasks

today. The boss called off. Sick? He’s drinking

again, for sure, and the worksheet isn’t linking

to the right data set. Each day, he masks

the long-dawned sense: his office is a cask-

et; he is dead already; Death is winking

at his glass door; his new assistant waits

in the wings for the whirring warning. Success? Success-

ion. Years ago he had a home, a wife.

Now he has a list of meeting dates.

When he explodes at last they’ll slap on some fresh

paint and give the next in line his life.