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POETRY AT WORK

​Every few weeks I feature a poem with a work-related theme, either one I wrote or that I curated from other sources.

Book, Ode

2/7/2022

 
Commentary--"How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book," wrote Henry David Thoreau in 1854. Just such a moment occurred for me in the mid-90s when I came upon Marvin Weisbord's Productive Workplaces, a mix of history, biography, and practical guidance about the field of organization development. PW led me back to graduate school, a new career in global health, and fresh approaches to creating more human, productive, and resilient organizations.
Book, Ode
​Richard Wilkinson

​Habent sua fata libelli
[Every book has its destiny]

--Terentius Maurus, 2nd century CE

 
Discovering my true path
began with a book
 
A mentor unknown to me
sharing his wonder
a message tossed overboard
with a map to magical lands
 
His impulse to write
refined at the feet
of many masters
 
First draft, second…
finding a publisher,
the never-ending quest
the editor, the arguments
 
His passion
persistent
persuasive
propulsive
 
Involve everyone, he wrote,
in small steps and large
shape together a world
of dignity
meaning
community
 
The book shakes me awake
my former self a ghost
​

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