July 18, 2024

"Crosswords? You'll find nary a cross word here,"

The director explained to me,

"We wouldn't have a clue.

We're more of a word search crowd,

Our chosen team activities:

You know, tell them what the words are,

Ask them to pick them from the morass

Of misleading symbols surrounding them.

Or, perhaps, they sign up to connect the dots

To reveal a hidden theme.

Where we sail, there is no depth.

We promote a laid-back cruise, you see."

-----------------------------

I was disturbed by what I'd signed up for,

Couldn't believe what I would see,

Or more likely never see.

My questions launched at a field of white fear:

"Would we stop at intersections

Where two ideas must cleanly check?

Would we have opportunities

To get a point across

Or to follow down a motif?

Where would be the symmetry,

Commitment to an overall design?

In short, sir, how far do you go off the grid?"

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Mein Direktor merely shook his head,

And tore my ticket in half:

"It's clear you do not understand

The modern way we work.

Cross words are just curse words

And have no place on our decks.

We have no need for you intellectual types

With your wordplay arcane and tricky,

Leave us be, let us be

As we point our ship to sea."

This is how I ended up, a dock

With no berths to fill.