Voluntary separation
Consider it an opportunity
If it fits with your plans
Might as well take the money

Take the offer, for sure, it's a tough call
For, who knows, the next time will be involuntary
It isn't pretty, you know, when the ax falls
Firings, unemployment, turmoil, redundancies

Take the buyout, it's relatively generous too
Just surprising that they'd pay you to leave
Pitching it as early retirement or the chance for something new
Ignoring entirely all the tales they were spinning just last week

To their credit, they aren't handling it like others in the industry
The fashion of layoffs is catching, albeit their choices are arbitrary
Impersonal, the casual cruelty of what they call restructuring activities
But no doubt it still hurts to have them talk of performance calibration
Empty phrases: managing the attrition curve, structural costs reduction

Voluntary Separation, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify)

• Buyout by The Floozies
• Can't Afford You Mad Cobra
• All I Have to offer you (is me) by Charley Pride
• Buyout by Esham
  Imagining what one would do with the proceeds of the Chrysler buyout. Cautionary tales have their own soundtrack
• Your Mess by Omar
• I'm a Mess by Anthony Hamilton
• Dog Days are Over by Florence and the Machine
• All Good Things (Come to an End) by Nelly Furtado
• Unexpected Things by Hohzo
• Severance by Street Fever

Bonus beats Get Rid Ah Dem by Sizzla

...

Previously, in the same vein:

• Restructuring Activities
• A Resource Action
• Workforce Rebalancing
• A Message from our Leader
• Involuntary Termination

File under: language, bureaucracy, work, economics, corporation, culture, job, USA, observation, poetry, perception, capitalism, humour, satire, The Rough Beast, toli

Writing log: May 12, 2023

At approximately 1:30 this afternoon, a student brandished a gel blaster gun and began using it in the hallways. The student was immediately apprehended by staff and was detained by our Student Resource Officer. The campus was placed on a "Hold" from 1:30–1:55 p.m. while staff and [redacted] police made sure the area was safe.

Please remind your children about the dangers of students bringing certain items, including toy guns, to school. Possession of any type of weapon — including a toy — is a serious violation of the [redacted] Student Code of Conduct.

...

We need to have a talk, my children
You're old enough to hear the deal

You do remember, we've had the sex talk already
All that stuff about the birds and the bees

We've had the race talk also, a puzzler that one
When I brought up ignorance, that social disease

But, mark my words, I'm raising you in America
That land of opportunity, with all that it means

Cringe, I know, your father's message, but hear me out on this
Lest I ever hear of you saying that you can't breathe

Far too many lives have been lost, consigned to thoughts and prayers
People just like you, brought low for the most dubious of reasons

Truth be told, this society is funeral minded
I can barely keep up, the litany of hazards we face daily

Knocking on the wrong door, jogging, or simply reaching
We can now add another, but this one is easily avoided

The subject is weapons, the danger is the perception
Some might say that it's a matter of possession

Albeit you might be having a little bit of fun
Careful of the things you carry including toy guns

True, in our family, we've always held that education is war
But the new warfare is metaphorical, don't bring in bows and arrows

I kid you not, it's unfortunate, there's no foolproof protection
Even a raised umbrella can cause no small amount of trouble

So if you must wield a weapon, let it be in the form of your thoughts
And express them judiciously, for no one is promised tomorrow

Your words will carry you but remember
It doesn't cost much to bite your tongue

Do go out of your way to make others comfortable
Proudly wear, as you do, that mask of civility

But make sure that it is only heartfelt outrage
That causes you to be accused of disturbing tranquility

That's all I have for now, I cry at night that you can be viewed as a threat
Despite all of our efforts, this country decidedly fails to protect

That we live in this strange world full of perils including toy guns
Carry on as you were, you're my favorite daughter and son



See previously: Prone, Action Items and Response Consultant

File under: USA, blood, violence, absurd, culture, observation, weapons, modernity, perception, language, bureaucracy, life, poetry, outrage, guns, The Rough Beast, Observers are worried, toli

Writing log. May 8, 2023

Restless joy, unbridled at that
Skipping, ecstatic despite yourself
And a sound issues from primal depths

Elation then, loping and sinuous
Demanding fervently to be shared
Unbidden glee, always in motion

This frantic compulsion
Uncontrollable, effervescent
Restless joy, oh what a feeling

Joy, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Joy by Teddy Pendergrass
• You Bring Me Joy by Anita Baker
• Joy by Blackstreet
• Joy Inside My Tears by Stevie Wonder
• Joy in the Morning by Alton Ellis
• Joy & Pain by Maze ft. Frankie Beverly
• Testify by Sounds of Blackness
• I've Got Joy by CeCe Winans
• Joy by Ledesi
• Joy by Isaac Hayes
• Joy by Whitney Houston
• Happy Feelings by Maze ft. Frankie Beverly

Writing log. May 7, 2023

The fabric of nostalgia
The ease of comfort blankets
Soothing memories of course
And the decisions to forget

Phantom threads of longing
Assembled at cross purposes
Stitching together thoughts
Welcome but fugitive visions

A quilted patchwork emerges
Shielding, lush but utilitarian
These woven cloths draped carelessly
We decipher meaning in their faint patterns

Odes to time lost, and homes too
Places, faces, tastes and touch
Graceful, the sensory elevation
Whither the veins of belonging

Nostalgia, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Nostalgia by Lee Morgan
• One Of Those Good Old Days by Al Green
• Remember by Joshua Redman
• Nostalgia in Times Square by Charles Mingus
• Do you Remember by Jill Scott
• Nostalgia by Roy Hargrove
• Back in the Day by Erykah Badu
• I Remember When by Stan Getz
• The Comfort Zone by Vanessa Williams

File under: nostalgia, wist, memory, culture, longing, observation, perception, poetry, toli

Writing log. May 6, 2023

She wrote "gathered". He was intrigued by the word choice
"Would you have preferred 'stolen'?", she said in reply
The silence after her retort was pregnant, loaded with reflection
Clearly many far more graphic words could well apply

She was being diplomatic, the occasion called for euphemism
There was no need to bring up the conqueror's catechism
The damage was done, the crown jewels were befitting
Why mention the earlier propensity for looting?

Those from the land of gold are connoisseurs of opacity
Who feel little burden in wearing masks of civility
There's a time and place, we aver, for plain speaking
But the sphinx modalities inform our private thinking

And, yes, the word gathered belies those fraught histories
An apt pointer to past abuses and enduring legacies
And, of the frayed fabric of memory still awaiting reparation,
A reminder: it's a choice to forgo truth and reconciliation



After King Charles' coronation: How would it happen in Ghana? (BBC, May 4, 2023)

Listen also: Loot, a playlist (spotify version)

File under: colonialism, euphemism, language, Africa, culture, observation, perception, memory, history, Observers are worried, poetry, toli

Writing log. May 4, 2023

I murdered a metaphor
Crushed it after a long delay
I'll admit upfront, I was a repeat offender
And yes, my parole officer cautioned me about the terms of my probation
Severe he was, he reminded me about the restrictions on carrying weapons
And further advised me to not associate with writers wielding puns

But it was hard to resist the temptation
The twelve step program hardly had time to have an effect
Euphemism lingers in the body, I wondered if I would pass the drug test
Albeit irony works best at close quarters, I was afraid to use a gun
In the end it was appalling, I strangled it with my bare hands

I remember an earlier time when I didn't hesitate to plunge the knife
Trigger happy, I was especially fond of vicious verbal sallies
Flesh wounds, back then I was addicted to biting satire
The sting in the tail after lobbing hand grenades, double entendres
Or poisoning the well with exaggeration born of my misspent youth
After such lampooning, my many victims came to bloody ends

The teasing was drawn out in this case, it couldn't stand the torture
Begged me to put it out of its misery, I laughed while it murmured
As you know, in the torrid zone, many prefer the water treatment
I kept up the pressure, continued drip feeding wit for days on end
Believe me, with a steady diet of blood and sin, you get results
I tell you, the vivid scenarios I enacted, it was a veritable mess
You’ve, no doubt, heard in these parts of the heart of darkness

The ban on assault weapons had been revoked, I lived then in modern America
I'd sought refuge in wordplay, word fugitive, for such is my asylum
My predicament, internally displaced, it was a strange kind of life
I purchased soul insurance, prepaid the premiums due for the coffin
Literature only, funeral minded, it overwhelmed the senses

This, then, is my confession, it was not written under any duress
Mind you, I traffic in tall tales, I daresay I'm a recidivist
By the time you read this I'll have turned myself in to the authorities
To wit: yes, it was a dark and stormy night, in a far, faraway land
Something was in the water, when I murdered a metaphor again
At length I hammered away with my point and paid attention to the details
For when it comes down to it, to a writer, every story is a nail

Murder, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Murder She Wrote by Chaka Demus
• I've Committed Murder Macy Gray
• 10 Minutes of Murder - Black Thought Freestyle
• Out in the Street they call it Murder by Ini Kamoze
• Murderer by Barrington Levy
• I Can't Help It by Michael Jackson
• Lyrics of Fury by Eric B & Rakim
• Ain't No Half-Steppin' by Big Daddy Kane
• Irresistible by Miles Jaye
• Word Play by A Tribe Called Quest

See previously: Soul Inspiration and The Early Bird Catches the Poem

File under: language, whimsy, humour, metaphor, culture, observation, wit, poetry, toli

Writing log: February 5, 2023