Information Worker at the End of the World

Abstract

Information Worker at the End of the World Stephanie Niu (bio) Keywords Stephanie Niu, poem, information worker, Svalbard seed vault, ring light When the ship to Mars has already departed,and my wealthiest friends have plots in New Zealandfor their children, or have no children, what boxdo I put my treasure in? I have one waterproof bagthat clips at the top. Every month, money dripsinto my retirement account. You think the worldwill still be around when you’re sixty-five? I don’t knowwhat it means to survive. I’ve learned all I canabout the Svalbard seed vault. I used to spend timeon the names of birds until the warblers disappeared.The earth is more burned out than my coworkers.The mantle is deathly dry. My doctor tells meI ought to moisturize. Weekly, my milk expires.I panic when I flip to a new month on my freeAudubon calendar. There is too much timeand not enough of it. I’m a bad steward caughtred-eyed. I board flights, order takeout high,forget to recycle. Some days I wake and resolveto arm myself for a righteous fight. I will makecoffee grounds into face scrub, eat kombuchabacteria raw. Other days I wake already lateto my first meeting, say hello brightlythough the laptop screen is all my gunked-upeyes can see. A blue glow sized to a day, an hour,an act of speech. Everything else beyond me. [End Page 73] Stephanie Niu STEPHANIE NIU is the author of She Has Dreamt Again of Water, winner of the 2021 Diode Chapbook Prize. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Copper Nickel, the Georgia Review, Southeast Review, and Storm Cellar, as well as in scientific collaborations including the Eleventh Annual St. Louis River Summit. She lives in New York City.* Copyright © 2022 University of North Carolina Wilmington