The Paris Review

At the Hotel Oblivion, Airport Drive
 Mezzanine, Conference Center B
   PowerPoint presentation no. 1
Career Enhancement Strategy
  Mary-Ray’s pink ice service trembles
   In the aftershock of some astral seizure
    So remote and faint
     Only the weevil’s foreleg dares say
      Yes, yes, yes, it’s true
       Next up
Team Building Exercises
 Woof, woof
   Burgundy carpet, big yellow dots
    That new smell, glycol ethers
     4-phenylcyclohexane in the latex backing
Break: Free Coffee, Light Snacks, Get Acquainted
 Uh, pardon me, Miss Carnoustie
   Is that your panty line
    Or a silken esker of longing
     Have an hallucination, have a bagel
      We had an issue under discussion here
       Regarding the lighting, I believe
        That tenebrous strip beyond the chandelier’s orb
         Hey, help me out here
          Not now, Peg, I’m teething
           Are we ready for the evening
Thought Shower
  Hold on, the jacaranda’s gone missing
   Waiter, some more Vitamin Water, and hurry
    Wow, here comes
     Thirty-six thousand blasts of ink per second
      In four, count ’em, four brilliant colors
       And with no telltale digital trace
        I see a hand up
         Mr. Gomez, are we still on the same page?