NaPoWriMo # 22 (Make up for day 22)

Urban Prairie Dogs

Cubicles are lined up in rows,
like on a farm of prairie dogs.
Working away, taking many calls,
in the call center, with low walls.

Occasionally a prairie dog pops his head
above the cube wall,
between calls,
seen by the supervisor.

“Get back in your burrow,
we have callers waiting,”
The pale prairie dog agent
plugs back in his headset,
digging into the cubicle,
“Thank you for call,
my name is….”

Dilbert is laughing,
more material for his comic strip.

April 30, 2008

NaPoWriMo # 18 (Make up for day 18)

We Are Down

Administering the PBX ,
I mean phone system, I found 19 T1s down,
I check the by 24-line phones lines
and find nothing wrong on our end.
I put a ticket in to check the carrier, AT&T
While all this is going on
supervisors call my cell phone, repeatedly.
The 10 voicemails on my phone tell me,
in no uncertain terms, there are
no calls in queue, the agents are
sitting idle.

Trying the outside toll free #, 800-Buy Stuff,
and I am getting a fast busy signal.
Oh no, Service Levels
Take a dive,
customer satisfaction
down the tubes, when they can’t
get through.

AT&T calls,
“Does your equipment have power?”
“Is your line coding b8zs?”
“Can we do intrusive testing”

Yes,
Yes and
Yes….we are not getting any calls, Intrusively test away.
All T1s are back up, now!
AT&T did nothing, they say.
Likely story.
What, now the queues are flooded with calls?!

Just another day in the call center.

April 30, 2008

Written from the prompt on Jargon at Read Write Poem.

NaPoWriMo # 17 (Make Up)

Lead Balloons

My energy is low.
Lead balloons hang on my shoulders.

I’m stuck in my seat,
clicking away on my computer.

Can’t seem to shake the tiredness
that hangs over me like fog
covering San Francisco Bay.

Zombi-like I make it through my workday.

Emotions take me down a track,
to a tunnel deep within.

Introspection and silence overwhelm me.

Fear and paralysis lead me to wonder if
depression has grabbed me,
or am I just over-tired

maybe it’s some of both.

April 30, 2008

NaPoWriMo # 30

News In My Email

My friend is sick, only 42,
needs a liver transplant,
after his gall bladder was removed,
two days before,
after a pace maker was put in,
four months before,
after he fainted several times,
two months before
after he found his job may be ending,
six months before.

Email updates for prayer,
sent out twice daily,
50 people on the list,
a chain of phone calls behind
the email list ,
keeps me informed,
almost in a clinical way,
reading news of a dear friend’s peril.

Life can be fragile,
not old, but no longer young.
I feel powerless,
as reading a news article detailing
events of a man in Australia but my
friends name was inserted in the article.
More such emails will come about
news of friends and loved ones.
Our invincibility has made
way for fragility.
Value time with family and friends.
Tragedy and hospital visits,
late calls and unexpected emails,
may change everything,
as life goes on....

I keep checking my email
hoping the next update
brings better news of my friend.


April 30, 2008

NaPoWriMo # 26

Digital Natives

My kids are digital natives.
They don’t know a time,
Without the internet, email and cell phones.
They can watch “TV”
on the TV or on the Disneychannel.com.
Club Penguin, Webkins, and other virtual
worlds for kids are their play grounds.
When my son was 3 he could
out-mouse his grandmother

They think it novel,
when we talk of the old days.
I wrote letters,
with pen and paper,
to their mom when she
was away at college.

Cell phones now ubiquitous,
once we used pay phones.
4 out of 5 us have a cell phone,
sharing minutes, keeping linked together.

Reality is we are all becoming more digital:
More with each email,
more with each cell call,
more with each mouse click.

We are digital immigrants,
traveling further and further
from an analog, snail-mail, world,

Into the natural digital world
our kids inhabit as naturally as
drinking a glass of water.

April 26, 2008

NaPoWriMo # 24

Get Back Quickly

I rode my bike 5 miles to the ATM,
my mother told me to get
as much cash as allowed.
We needed to get to a hotel,
before he got back from his drunken rage.

A thirteen year old on an adult's errand,
I just did what I was told.
So I pedaled quickly in the dark,
across town with my
mother's ATM card and PIN number
in my pocket.

NaPoWriMo # 23

Roller Coaster Ride

The stock market is emotional,
at times a basket case. It’s like
a legal gambling playground,
for grown-ups.
Wild ups and downs, turning
on the words of men like
Bernanke now, and Greenspan before.
One day the Bulls run,
the next the Bears growl.
Boys listening to stories of
Chicken Little and Humpty Dumpty
show more control.

The roller coaster ride grabs
the attention of many big kids,
who lose their marbles,
at the thought of a thrilling ride.

April 23, 2008

NaPoWriMo # 21

Purpose

Poetry-- is it
high end journaling or more
message for masses?

NaPoWriMo # 20

A Blessing At Ground Zero

Fire and Ground Zero,
the lives of many of New York’s
finest were lost.

The Pope spoke with and
prayed for 24 today.
A brother of a man from Ladder
114 met with the Pope.

He stood for Jimmy,
who was found by him
and his father 6 years ago.
The brother spoke to the Pope,
selected out of many, hopefully
healing will come

4 Brothers, and a father
before, them wore the uniform.
“God bless you ,”
said the pope.
3 brothers remain
in the uniform,
fighting fires,
for Jimmy.

Ground Zero,
In memory of the ,
fallen heroes, sacred
resting place for many souls.

April 20, 2008

Inspired by an article in the New York Times

NaPoWriMo # 19

Broken Heart

Collateral damage,
brings the sober truth
after
lives torn apart
The heartbreaking trauma of

Divorce

Illness

Emotional pain

Death
of emotion,
of trust,
of love,
of life.

“Sorry I meant to say”,

Falls so flat.

The heart is just an organ
But so fragile in emotion,
In life.

I carry your heart
in my heart.

April 19, 2008