Rensselaerville Library
celebrates National Poetry Month 2026
Today's Poem!

Friday, April 10, 2026

9 to 5

by Sarah Hacker

Not to be dramatic,
but 3 pm is agony.
Clear skies roil and
vultures circle low.

3 pm is agony.
The day rots,
a vulture circles low.
On my knees, decay.

The hour rots
like carrion in the afternoon.
On my knees, decay
smells like eternity.

Like carrion in the afternoon,
I turn to dust,
the smell of eternity
looming.

I turn to dust
at 3 pm until
looming
sunset rolls relief.

Not to be dramatic.

~

This is my attempt at a pantoum, a poem in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza serve as the first and third lines of the next stanza.

Sarah Hacker is an editor at Conservationist Magazine, a job that doesn’t feel like a 9 to 5. Her poetic influences include Edie Abrams and David Gonsalves.

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