Poems for Employees, Morris McLennan

Poetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

In his debut chapbook, Poems for Employees, Morris McLennan explores alienation under capitalism, free will, and yearning. After a sad year of office work, McLennan felt compelled to articulate labor in all of its complexity, as both delicate and violent. There is nothing more poetic than the office. And the office is the center of the universe — of all friends and lovers and moments of introspection.

With mundane, sarcastic, and straightforward voice, McLennan outlines the emotional absurdism of being a worker. Through character-focused verse and prose poems, Poems for Employees paints the story of suffering through a job while falling in love with life.

Morris McLennan is a writer from Chicago, IL. He holds a BFA in Playwriting from DePaul University. He is the recipient of the Zach Helm Endowed Playwriting Scholarship, the Bundschu Award, the DeGroot Foundation Writer of Note award, a Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Individual Artist Project grant, a Robert Chelsey/ Victor Bumbalo Foundation Award, and a Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Residency. His plays have been workshopped with the support of DePaul University, King’s College, Shattered Globe Theatre, DCASE, and Pocket Theatre VR. His writing has appeared in Adelaide, underscore_magazine, and more. You can view his work at morrismclennan.net.