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.