KPI

One more day in the workaday world,
embattled with egos that ooze and command attention,
thunder rumbles on the horizon of each morning coffee.

What I would give for peaceful citrus,
admiring the sun that can only be subdued
by the anticipation of an employment community
lacking lacerations and finding bandages unnecessary.

Here is what vocational environments would rather do:

Command collaboration. Speak softly with respectful tones.
Sense of humor, necessary. Intelligence is expected, not overindulged.
Kindness is a virtue. Kindness is always possible. Have I mentioned kindness?

Hard work is rewarded by gratitude. Innovation
will never draw suspicion by others. Admiration is our (KPI) Key Performance Indicator.

In this place, we are all in it (happily) together.

Angelina's Menu

The waiter probably has it memorized
with just the right pauses
at just the right turns of sauces
and wines that won't disappoint.

We consider the table linens
and the sweating water glasses
and turn on our heels
for the Tea Garden's dim charm.

The fried rice and bean curd are greasy
and the tea bitter. The fortunes are under impressive
but the waitress shares the birthday with my son.

She suddenly becomes one of the family
in a way that Angelina's fine Italian lines
can only be adopted
and not born of endless love.

Threads

Some of these threads that bind us are blue
and measure all the ways we hold tight,
brandishing love and cutting loose the abrupt departures
we are forced to share.

Some of these threads that bind us are silver
like dawn, quavering with the force of the ocean tides,
dancing and full of laughter from the belly
when we forget who we are.

Some of these threads that bind us are violet
and justify our rage in words and healing touch,
sheltering us from the ways the world boils over
when love is forgotten.

Some of these threads that bind us are green
and our favorite color of leaves of grass
onto which we stretch out our bodies to celebrate
before we sleep forever.

Some of these threads are blessings of red and yellow
like the sky just before it falls into blackness,
drifting off like stars and meteors,
when we become worn and dusty
with the musty fibers of God.