TPQ OnLine
poetry by Peter Tomassi


Memorandum

The CEO surrounds himself with solid men.
Solid. No worries. Tough handshakes.
Solid men.
Get the job done.
Need to get it done? Put in someone solid.
Give me MKB, JAP, or DAL. He'll take a stab at it.
They look at him and say 'can-do.'
Can-do men.
They never say 'I don't know.'
No it's-tough's, I-cant's, we'll-try's, I-doubt-we-can's
I-feel's, I-think's, I-believe's, I-guess's.
The Vice-Presidents get can-do directors
Can do anything, here's the spreadsheet.
The directors get can-do managers.
Crunch the numbers for my 4:15 with MAF.
Can do research plans.
Can do quarterlies.
Can do fixed capital costs.
Can do streamlining.
Can do P and L's
Can do follow ups.
Can do agendas.
Can do benchmarks.
Can do forecasts.
Can do creative.
Can do action notes.
They write 'em on the can.

It stops somewhere between the managers and the receptionist.
Solid men.
They eat themselves from the inside out,
side with the winners,
& get promoted

Copyright © 1998 by Peter Tomassi

A native of Westfield, New Jersey, Peter Tomassi moved from New York City to Melbourne Australia where he is Editor in Chief of LookSmart, a daily review of the World Wide Web. His work is widely published in both online and print and has appeared in Poetry Cafè, Poetry HiFi, Beauty for Ashes, Stukeley Press (London), Gravity, The Cafè Review, Word Salad, and numerous other literary periodicals. Reach him at ptomassi@looksmart.com.

Page posted 4/98

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