Working Stiff

Working Stiff Cylinder is a poem about bureaucracy written on vellum and attached to a hamster wheel. The complete text of the poem, which can be read in a loop with no particular beginning or ending, is:

I went to the main office to get the official code.A secretary said to get the code I needed a company I.D.
I went to the personnel office to get a company I.D.A secretary said to get an I.D. I needed to fill out Form F.
I went to pick up Form F in the basement.A secretary said, “To get Form F, you need Form P signed by the boss.”
I went to the boss’s office on the top floor. The boss said that I’d have to have Form P notarized before she could sign it.
I went to the notary in the company’s lobby.He said, “I can’t notarize Form P until you get all the Xerox copies.”
The Xerox machine was broken, so I called the 800 number. A technician refused to come, because I didn’t know the official code.

By Denise Duhamel

Via Everlasting Blort