GOOD THING THERE’S A BURNOUT WEBINAR
A patron came in with a machete
GOOD THING I HAVE VOCATIONAL AWE
My new boss wants to rearrange everyone’s workstations
GOOD THING THERE’S A BURNOUT WEBINAR
Someone dropped a pound of weed in the book-drop
GOOD THING I HAVE VOCATIONAL AWE
There’s a class of 30 children shrieking in the library
GOOD THING THERE’S A BURNOUT WEBINAR
There’s no power, the front doors are still broken, & I’m teaching a poetry workshop to teens in 20 minutes
GOOD THING I HAVE VOCATIONAL AWE
Admin fucked up the book budget & oops there isn’t one
GOOD THING THERE’S A BURNOUT WEBINAR
The security guard quit again
GOOD THING I HAVE VOCATIONAL AWE
Risk thinks we fill out too many incident reports
GOOD THING THERE’S A BURNOUT WEBINAR
We’ve been advised not to call the police unless the knife is THIS BIG
GOOD THING I HAVE VOCATIONAL AWE
Did you know there’s a form for that?

Melissa Eleftherion (she/they) is a writer, a librarian, and a visual artist. Born & raised in Brooklyn, they are the author of four poetry collections: field guide to autobiography (The Operating System, 2018), gutter rainbows (Querencia Press, 2024), Suture (Cooper Dillon, 2026) & Malocchia (White Stag, 2026) as well as twelve chapbooks including abject sutures (above/ground press, 2024). Her work has been widely published & appears in venues like Sixth Finch & Verse Daily, with new work forthcoming in DIAGRAM & South Dakota Review. Melissa served as Poet Laureate for the City of Ukiah (2021-2024), and lives in Northern California where she manages the Ukiah Branch Library and curates the LOBA Reading Series. Recent work is available at www.apoetlibrarian.wordpress.com.