Collective Poem

This poem was created out of fragments of speech over a three day period, drawing from individual conversations and group discussions I had or witnessed at the annual Berrett-Koehler Publishers Author Co-op retreat.  The language used was specific to the situation but I have been encouraged by others who were not there that it may have a significance beyond its original setting.  I hope it tickles your fancy:

Collective Poem

We’re running short on time but don’t knock yourself out: We want to reach as many People as possible Skyrocket sales Create a twenty-year book from a launch party that lets 1,000 flowers bloom. Walking 2.5 miles of an interpretive nature trail I wonder how to interpret my life.  Am I wayfarer or tourist? I keep hearing that there is so much to cover, But did I not also hear that the trail is a circle. And in a circle, we will come to the same place – again and again. Kabir said as much But I felt the invitation and the challenge. When my time ends, will the world cry or rejoice? Two streams parallel the trail I’m on. One flows from the past with all its inconsistencies and shadow.  The other runs into the distance obscured by the brush. Are there not also two parallel lives we live, the one on the inside and the one we show to the world? I know I need to tweet and blog and have a services page, but I have been instructed by higher counselors to consider what I need to receive, to ponder what of value I resist. There are those who bound over rails, unencumbered by the group… but we’re running short of time and it is by holding hands and moving accordion-like that we will reach the farther shore. I was asked if I was coming or going and said Yes! ~ Alan Briskin, 2010