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

slippery slope

a little nuance

allowing you to infer

your heart's desire

© 2022 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

Red

possessing quiet competence she flies

and touches lives

she touches lives across the enterprise

for good

invariably for good

when all is done and said

then again with quiet competence she flies

and leaves our eyes

she leaves our eyes with tears

and a reflected touch of red

invariably good

she is

when all is done and said

© 2021 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

Inspired by and for Erin Holmes.

in which we learn from our mistakes

sometimes the cream
that rises up
is little more than scum

contaminates
both left and right
and beats an evil drum

divisive and
exclusionary
fomenting lies and hate

distracting from
the work at hand
with spin that won't abate

while tendrils
quietly invade
and suck the body dry

naught but a
monumental
husk remaining to decry

the narcissistic
suffocating
self promoting lot

we let engage
our baser selves
while they float up on top

---

how can we
overcome this spiral
vampiric decay

first pause and breathe
remembering
kindness wins the day

in every
interaction
be it large or be it small

the path to kindness
must be clear
or else we take the fall

and darkness
tempered not by stars
becomes our promised land

---

when leaders we've
anointed channel
orange hate and fear

they threaten
with their sneers and smirks
the things we hold

most dear
the freedom to be
who we are

despite prevail-
ing preferences
and sensibilities

these leaders as
they beat their drums
forfeit our fealty

and represent
not progress but
a selfish reality

which we taking
the higher road
vote irrelevancy

in favor of
the kindness which
our legacy becomes

in knowing there
is always time
to just vote out
the bums

active listening

 static-ful broadcast
fiddling knob mindfully
clarity blossoms

© 2021 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

block

there was a time

when I was mired

not

with false starts

hopes burned hot and fast

to ash

but

with

a carpal cramp

born of an overflowing pen

not today

©2021 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

fib

 small

lie

with no

clear malice

at least by intent

that's how my mom would describe it

she was always right

and pretty

like

you

© 2021 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

chasm

what exactly is it
when each action each embrace
whether words or something deeper
formed within the tactile space

is delayed by second guessing
calculation out of fear
there'll be no reciprocation
that the end is so damn near

what exactly is it
love
or something less sincere

© 2021 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

Inspired by Kris Sasa's What's This Love?

corporate triptych

 I

dearly desired
corporate transparency
simple elegance

II

routinely touted

corporate transparency

Goldberg elegance

III

typically seen

corporate intransigence

eternal collapse

© 2021 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

blindspots

pizza

coffee

ice cream

universal constants

hinge pins aligning an infinity of diversities

almost

for me pineapple goes with the third

decidedly NOT the first

though I won't turn it away (no bad pizza)

cream only in the second

except for the rare molasses dalliance

I do like a little creole now and again

the third

well

erotica is in the same ballpark

partial to coffee

chocolate

mint

cookie dough

ginger

even neopolitan will do

beyond these preferences

blindspots I might be willing to explore

come along

© 2021 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

flight deck

the forge and foundry of my literary craft where the words ignite with the help of family breaking bonds of gravity © 2020 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

brewing

past the perc-a-burp

heralding near readiness to pour

the morning's first assault on sentience

coffee maker's soundscape takes a turn

toward understatement

scaling back as if to soothe the re-emergence

of gentility

with decrescendo susurrus

between the quietudes

reminiscent of the surf intruding on a nap

© 2020 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

greater milieu

so many stones I've thrown into the sea

how many have washed back ashore to me

etched with the tales of marine escapades

and edges softened by time tide and waves

my beach'ed strolls I mull through candidates

but never wondered which chose to retrace

the arcing path I'd hurled them on before

to surface skip or plunge to ocean floor

relationships are often viewed the same

where clinical detachment serves as frame-

work of derived professional design

and personal kneels to the business shrine

perhaps our sandy strolls would better end

if stones encountered were viewed as old friends

© 2020 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

deja vu

chosen carefully

stones I've skipped into the sea

do time and tide and waves agree

to wash some back ashore to me