Staff Meeting Poem by Jacqueline Cheater

Staff meeting: March 2009

And they, the powers that be
who hold the sway, the yea and nay
in this esteemed establishment,
Surmise that we the minions opine
we work in a democracy,
Where everybody’s viewpoint counts,
Ideas are taken notice of
and all our voices heard.
Are they completely deluded,
Or is that how they deem us?
Here comes another hour or more
of futile incarceration,
A waste of all our times,
Forced to sit and feign interest
as non-essentials and non-sequiturs
are bandied around.
And they who seek to impress
or are mistaken and believe
their own notions to be of worth,
Will sally forth and spout about
a multitude of nothingness.
We have no bell to set us free,
Or predetermined release date,
Our sentence seems interminable,
The lot of those who know the score,
We sit and think of many things
ensuring lips are firmly shut,
Our smugness there for all to see.
We know the truth, have read the plot,
Have been there many times before,
So wearily we wryly smile,
Condone and live the delusion.