I'm in charge
and turning the place over
to you.
You're on your own
for the next 12 months
to 5 years.
Don't expect me
to check in. I'll be taking
everyone away — bottom rung
to top — leaving you
exactly what you need
to conduct your power
trip. You're not getting one thing
more than that Aeron chair
you like, broken in
as it is.
It will bring you full circle
if you can make
the necessary adjustments.
When you give it
a spin, your feet dangling,
your hands out,
consider what you'll have
to put down
to bring yourself
to a full stop,
what you'll want to close
up and close in
on for the best deal
of your life.
Track that carefully
on your whiteboard
in some private inner office
where you can hear
yourself think, say
your name out loud
and recite the honorifics
that follow you
no matter your place
on the ladder
you've been climbing
since you were old enough
to talk and walk
and get what you want
from a world that owes you
nothing more than a chance
to find out for yourself
that what absolutely matters
more than anything else,
is free, will cost you plenty
if you don't have it,
abuse it, fail to awaken
it in due time, won't share it,
withhold it, ignore it calling
out to you. Exercising it
regularly will keep it
in good working order.
No joke!
Your heart need never give
out, won't betray you,
and when the time comes
will bring you the ones who count
most and keep them running.
still running to you.
© 2011 Maureen E. Doallas
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I'm participating in the Domino Project's #Trust30 challenge, an online writing/reflection initiative for which a prompt is posted daily. All of the prompts to date are here.
Today's poem is inspired by the 26th prompt from Sasha Dichter, Acumen Fund's business development director and a blogger on philanthropy, generosity, and social change:
Call to Arms
The secret of fortune is joy in our hands. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
What if today, right now, no jokes at all, you were actually in charge, the boss, the Head Honcho. Write the "call to arms" note you're sending to everyone (staff, customers, suppliers, Board), charting the path ahead for the next 12 months and the next 5 years. Now take this manifesto, print it out somewhere you can see [it], preferably in big letters you can read from your chair.
You've just written your own job description. You know what you have to do. Go!
(Bonus: Send it to the CEO, with the title "The things we absolutely have to get right — nothing else matters.")
* * *
I've used all the #Trust30 prompts as inspiration for new poems. Poems for prompts 16 - 25 are:
You'll find my poem for prompt 15, "Truth Be Told", and a list of poems for prompts 1 - 14 here.
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1 comment:
This is fabulous! And this particular #trust30 exercise is superb.
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