Henchmen

You’ll pay for your incompetence! cries
the villain of the piece, or Fools!
You were supposed to be guarding him! or even,

in highest jingling dudgeon, You blithering
idiots! as if the evil genius
bent on bending the world to his will

who paces and preens atop his secret
mountain lair has just now realized
his HR process has wildly failed him

and what’s true for malls and grocery stores 
applies equally well to his mad designs—
good help is hard to find these days

he thinks as the hero slips his bonds,
sweeps in big as an evening tide,
and cocks his inevitable fist.