Tools of the Trade

O Smead! O Pendaflex folder!
O Kleer-Fax! Paper Mate! Bienfang!
O notebook! O sweet-flowing pen!
O highlighter! O index cards!

And let us not forget the printer,
nor Madame Emacs the text editor,
nor the keyboard I can scoot
sideways past curious cat paws.

Let us not forget Sir Cat himself,
his considered contributions,
his magnificence, his quiet company,
how he doubles as hot-water bottle.

O Merriam-Webster! O Oxford English!
O Britannica! O Strunk and White!
O rhyming dictionary, O thesauri,
O prompts, O quotable quotations!

And let us never forget caffeine:
its many-flavored tea temptations,
how captivatingly it doth commingle
with theobromine in a chocolate bar.

For without you I am naught,
stumbling over syllables
mediocre and untranscribed,
a mere husk mumbling to myself.