Cracked Up to Be - Is or Isn't It?

retirement. a worthy goal to be pursued

particularly in the face of corporate recalcitrance

to deal with making making better

and improving the lot of the enterprise

as a whole for all its denizens

retirement. the long exhale

when Senior “Leadership’s” preoccupation with the meta

no longer needs to disappoint the vision of how it could be

a data / process driven harmony

with strategy and tactics well aligned with product specs

and the zen of every denizen in mind

that is until the democracy reveals itself for what it is

a popularity contest wrapped in words that sound ideal

promising inclusivity

exclusively

to those who vote the status quo

in hopes they hit it lotto lucky

trickling up to oligarchy

while hopes of all the denizens are mined

and burn bright

© 2025 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

potential energy

there was that time in school two of us grown close and comfortable sharing dark beers dreams and visions while we studied and other things absurd

two bright and shining stars

invincible

doing good and righting wrongs

and mostly being seen

anonymous

caped and masked and costumed

long-johns emblazoned with a star

bright and shining of course

donned it once I did

beneath street clothes

for a downtown metro ride

to pick up Thai

a test of sorts 

empowered there and back

while others rode

and read or napped

drained and neutral and oblivious

no rights wronged

no goods done

unless you count the Thai delivered

still sparking with potential through the meal shared

until I found that pepper in the Thai

my first

made a scene I did

blazing

and despite my insulation under

after several pitchers drained

neutralised

and oh so obvious

© 2025 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

blind side

sitting at the dealership

likely for the day

their systems down

by cyber clown - or worse

the waiting room is nice

Keurig coffee

wi fi

comfy chairs

all eclipsed by quiet incessant discourse

Red or Blue

neither budge

each holds a grudge

based on what they KNOW

more like no

there's the rub

distracted by the chance to fight

over clouds and shadows 

ethereal and out of reach

ignoring

heat domes

wild fires

mud slides and the like

© 2024 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved 

okay

I am enveloped by a film
it's paper thin and brittle

the slightest poke will make it tear
and leak venom and spittle

the leakage gets on everything
it's caustic and it burns

and when I try to clean it up
it spreads at every turn

making all that's good and fair
a pestilential goo

unless I keep control of it
it just might get on you

and so I sit
perfectly still

to keep myself at bay
and ponder what's

inside this film
the one I call okay

© 2023 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

anticipation

stone passes
wonder colors relief
lurkers at the wake

© 2022 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

context

a soup sandwich …
let that marinate

 

is not that bad

in fact it’s rather good

 

when served in a bowl
with a spoon

 

toasted please

© 2022 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

non sequitur

global pandemic

environmental collapse

inequality

certainly priorities

at which egos seem to balk

© 2022 Frederick Andrew~ All Rights Reserved