By: Jessica Goody

The fierce din of the typing pool,
thirty women battering the keys,
their fingers flickering insect-quick
on the glassy pebbles, stamping the
white expanse with inky hieroglyphs.
The rhythmic drumbeat of pounding
fingers resembles the factory roar of
clattering gears and rushing motors.

The typist’s practiced hand tightens
a new sheet of blank paper into place.
The bell chimes, a single sedate note
amidst the cacophany, then the rasp
of the carriage being pushed back to
a fresh margin. The filled page is torn
and stacked among the white flags of
piled papers on desktops strewn with
scattered sheets and broken pencils.

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Jessica Goody writes for SunSations Magazine. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Reader’s Digest, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and The Maine Review. Jessica was awarded second place in the 2015 Reader’s Digest Poetry Competition. Her poetry collection Defense Mechanisms will be released by Phosphene Publishing in January 2017.