Oh, yeah -- I'm supposed to pretend that I'm a professional. And with a title like that, well, you'll all know that I'm actually a victim of arrested development.
Wait. You already knew that? That's what I figured.
By the way, Arrested Development was a pretty good show (the first and official part of it, that is -- the stuff they invented later to try to capture their own tail wind? I hear it's not so good.)
I'm moving down on the list of poetry prompts gathered by Google. Today I'm mining this source and I'm using the last on the list: Write a poem using the title, "You Need to Have a Plan". It seems fitting to write a poem with this title on the first day of advising for the fall semester, because that's the day's mantra.
*
You Need to Have a Plan
and it should be concrete, detailed, replete
with "in case of"s and "perhaps"es
because events have a way of unfolding
as they wish, to spite us, as in:
your plane to Tahiti is canceled
at the last minute and no other waits
to take you anywhere
you'd ever want to go,
or a man with his own plan
teeters on the edge of the very bridge
you need to get to the island
where you live
and so his desperation -- complete with
firemen cops and TV media --
closes your only road home.
Seriously, you need a set of plans,
a collection of robust scenarios, even
an author worthy to write you into a series
of action-adventure stories as its
intrepid hero, a character with resources
and a quick wit, with charm and
(it must be admitted) good looks,
maybe a gift for languages but certainly
access to reliable transportation.
If you're really lucky, you'll live
in Europe, following wines and
good weather, and will possess a knack
for disguises, for finding your way out
of apparently hopeless situations, a good
lawyer (or two) on retainer,
and the ever faithful sidekick --
your Watson -- someone you can count on
to carry out all the dangerous plans you create,
no matter how thrilling or ridiculous,
someone to love you through it all,
A to Z.
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