Fresh Air

Pitchfork Archeology

Naked tines
Sift endless layers
of paper, deals and people.

Room to room and remnant to remnant,
I move in reverent silence
And ache with grief and longing.

Each shard a reminiscence tied to place and context;
I hear words, see faces, some long gone. 
It's hard to stay on task with ghosts that tug your elbow
and your heart.

Research, plans, handwritten thoughts and strategies.
Patents, trademarks, products; phases; specs.
Some stacks a seamless periscope
from beginning through the end.

As we near bedrock,
The purity of purpose re-emerges
From hidden depths of disappointment.

From sound foundation's base, I know we'll build again.

Towards the Tipping Point

Middle ground;
Safe and central, unconflicted.
The fulcrum may rest easy here,
but experience teaches change, not stasis.

You can't know middle ground until the end, 
As only Hindsight knows these mysteries, and she's not telling.

With backward glance, I gently tick
the wayposts toward the tipping point,
and pillowed graceful glide to Vision's End.

With wavering grace, we walked that tighrope,
shifting weight and weathered blows
in thin, responsive slippers.
Parasol askew, the world tipped,
revealing safety's net as false and unsupportive.

Odd that failure has its own beauty.
Each small setback like a wrinkle
marring porcelain skin's perfection
but with purpose and design.

I've got more character now.

When the World Was New

Fresh,
the scent of new potential hung in the air;
Shimmering, dazzling in inherent, unformed possibility.

Such exuberance has resonance,
an energy and life beyond its source; 
Hope and purpose crafted to conveyance
through the minefield called "success."

When the world was new,
uncharted ground passed swiftly under feet
running with vector and velocity,
to craft that which had not been, with value yet to be determined.

Would that "idea" alone would be sufficient.

But business beats to many drummers,
And silent forces rage, with klaxon effect.
No one sees full spectrum, but night vision helps.

Much anticipated, the birth unfolds in passion paired with pain;
Perspective often lost as wizened, red and squalling,
Hope and Hard Work's child arrives.

One prayer answered, illusory in magnitude and effect,
Suspending and obscuring, for just a moment,
the hard work yet to come.

Bowling with Planets - Circling Mercury

Just as a quick update to those of you in the know - we're working with a couple of gentlemen on some strategic business initiatives, summarily dubbed the Wonder Twins.  We're currently revamping the company's Executive Summary, a task I find about as enjoyable as going to the dentist.  For a root canal.

When you're a tech company, it's difficult to remember that the rest of the world barely understands some of what you say about your near and dear creations, let alone grasping the entire enchilada.  One of the Wonder Twins was in today - and in wearing his CFO hat asked some very salient questions, like "describe in 3 sentences why would I spend money on this rather than an alternative"??

Not being a shy and retiring type - I responded volubly and passionately about the "Why".  We even got into "How" and "What".  However, my question to my readers is "Why is it so difficult to take what comes so naturally out of one's mouth, remove 2/3 of it and make it a readable, consumable soundbite that a 12 year old can absorb?"  (This is not to say that I am denigrating Wonder Twin 1 to 12 year old status--!)

Nonetheless, we persevere.  I'll know more tomorrow as we're to close on this doc and move on to the spate of others still to be developed.  Funny how over the life of a company, the amount of completely redundant, useless or utterly untrue information (as things shift over time) grows into a proverbial slag heap.  The fresh, new, relevant and true content represents an increasingly smaller portion of the total collection.   After all, you really only need one Exec Summ and Business Plan.  Presentations may be tied to overall technology or specific industries or product lines - but they still change based on what the core looks like today.

I am reminded of the growth of a tea plant, and how the very best, perfect leaves are used for the type of tea you pay *lots* of money for on a per-pound basis.  When I was studying the Japanese tea ceremony - even the powdered stuff could run a paycheck or two if you wanted to be ridiculous about it.  That's what I am crafting now - the perfect tea leaf; fresh, verdant, and kissed with the first morning dew.  Tea made of these first leaves is designed to heighten awareness in the palate of delights yet to come.  God knows I hope the metaphor holds. 

I'll let you know if the CFO Wonder Twin is happy with my new perspective!