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Monday Morning - 9AM

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Monday Morning – 9AM

 

He calls the meeting to order

The alligator with the human skin briefcase

Teeth like buzz-saw blades

She raises the first objection

The girl with butterfly wings

Muddy puddles for eyes

The maggot takes the minutes

Slowly chewing the page

Drizzling ink-blood on paper

Smudging ideas

 

A firefly drifts aimlessly

From subject to subject

Saying nothing

Words like gossamer cobwebs

And the hyena

Stares out of the window

And smiles

While playing a fountain pen

Round and round

His finger claws

 

Interrupted

By a slow spider

Who distributes

Croissants and coffee

To break up the tedium

A cat licks the cream pot

A dog chews an idea bone

A parrot with golden plumage

Mimics the boar who is speaking

In riddles and rhymes

 

The clock runs counter clockwise

Seconds stretch into minutes

Minutes to hours

Like clouds across a mountain

Slowly the objectives unwind

Leaving snapping dragons

And mewling little demons

Clicking and clacking

Digging up bones

Long buried and forgotten

 

When the gavel comes down

The corporate menagerie

Dust of their crisp suits

From a century of dust

Adjust their positions

Raise to their full height

Of not much or nothing at all

And leave through the door

Of shimmering dreams

And rose coloured glass

 

Come on down you pretenders

You hoary old men

You power dressed bitches

You meek being led

By faceless monstrosities

Sitting in caves

At the end of an oak panelled corridor.

This is the Company

Grinding up lives

In its mincing gears

 

The time and the date

Placed in the diary

Along with the doodles

And pertinent points

From a thousand

Monday morning meetings

Where caffeine and ambition

Pump screaming adrenaline

Into the veins of the smiling

Ruthless devourers of souls

NaPoWriMo 2019day 21board meetingcorporate animalswild surreal imagesdream-logic

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Comments

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Philip Stevens

Fri 26th Apr 2019 07:01

Defining what I think about board meetings, thanks for bringing these characters to life.

Frances Macaulay Forde

Tue 23rd Apr 2019 18:38

Hi Ian, thanks for your permission to share - it's up on my blog now.
https://francesmacaulayforde.wordpress.com/2019/04/23/monday-morning-9am/
?

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Stu Buck

Mon 22nd Apr 2019 13:02

wonderful read ian. surreal and satirical all at once. nice one

Frances Macaulay Forde

Mon 22nd Apr 2019 05:38

I love the quirkiness of this; the very clever descriptions of each character and the attention to subject. Well done, Ian!

"This is the Company

Grinding up lives

In its mincing gears"

It made me smile, then laugh - giggle... I have known these characters and attended many a meeting just like this.

I think this poem is probably my favourite of all your pieces so far!

Would you mind if I shared it on my blog?

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Jason Bayliss

Sun 21st Apr 2019 23:44

Caffeine and ambition... love that.
Great poem.

J. x

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