Dinky File
I’m warning you now: it could happen.
So many stronger, brighter young things
set forth gaily, sure of possessing
some kind of indomitable core.
They thought irony would protect them.
How could they not underestimate
what time would do with its dinky file?
But how could they have reached the front door,
knowing they were beaten already?
If it happens, there will be no time.
Don’t even think about gathering
a few treasured possessions. Just go.
Forget the black-and-white photograph
of a girl stroking a dog long gone
in a garden buried by cement
in a country that doesn’t exist.
The red tape reduction committee
is debating its terms of reference.
I need a KPI to measure
progress towards my personal goal
of caring less what the big man thinks.
If I use the word impactful, if
I give up the long and subtle art
of disappointing, if I forget
curriculum’s a diminutive,
it means I’ve already been bitten
and there’s nothing anyone can do.