The Stenographer Muses


My dictator!  You speak and I surrender,
I love.  I tuck my freedom away like a glove.

I’m a dead page your words enliven,
a vessel they possess.
Though unsubstantial, they take hold of me,
their chosen medium.

They employ me, ear to fingertip,
and I allow this, sacrificially.

I live to give, I live to be of use.

Once inside, my fluids change them marvelously.
See how they stream from my pen in cryptic glyphs!

I could be Sybil, sitting here,
cloaking the sun god’s wisdom
with my quirky script,
or the keeper of some awful gnosis.

Yes, the company fears me and pays me well.
O my dictator,
tell, tell.

Kate Bernadette Benedict

Kate Bernadette Benedict (kate.bernadette.benedict@gmail.com), in the masquerades of her working life, has survived jobs both temporary and permanent at more than 100 American corporations and nonprofits.

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