~ Delta Poetry Review ~

Hugo Dos Santos

First day

I used to think of beginnings as promises.

Used to think of promises as

commitments. These days, as more

like effects. Something delivered

to close a conversation.

Imagine: logging in on a new computer

from the same chair I used when I was

at the previous job. Our third baby

imminent and a new title, email

address.

This is the magic of remote work,

something my family did not

imagine arriving in this country

all those years ago.

There was such light in the house

that morning, as if the windows

were suddenly larger or me with

a gravity to bend, pull in the rays.

That first day held such promise

and I really believed I could

save the world from my desk.

At my welcome call

I received onboarding information,

a benefits packet, then:

 I promise, you’re going to love it here. You’re home now.

Hugo Dos Santos is the author of Reduction in Force (Bauhan Publishing, 2026), winner of the May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize, and Then, there (Spuyten Duyvil, 2019), a collection of Newark stories, and the translator of Homecoming (Arquipelago Press, 2024) and A Child in Ruins (Writ Large Press, 2016).