The ABCs of corporate survival

always 
be
concealing ur colossal heart & diverting from ur
dumbass dreams.
everyone knows rhyme & rest are 
for children & u are not a child. 
good adults 
have data-driven hope & only wear black or white, so
if u thought, donโ€™t. ur only 
job is to respond like ChatGPT & make sure u 
keep that buh-buh-body built
like a farmer's wife out the office & off the screen. it distracts us from
money, men & metrics! money, men & metrics! 
no hard stances, title changes, or second chances. 
oops, did u want ur name on that check? bitch,
please. we will answer all ur
questions, but only if u let us 
rehearse our responses ahead of time (for transparency). 
see, what u heard we didn't say. what u sent we didn't see
til just now, sry, we been heads down on this other more important thing.
uphill, sissy-fuss. our 
values are ur values now: "authenticity, empathy, equity."
we are future-proof. we are best-of-breed. we so cut-and-dry, call us
xerox machine. this survey is anonymous, 
yeah? yeah? & unemployment is just a 
Zoom call away, if those
zeros don't start stacking up to something. we need more 
yesses, fewer messes. everything unnecessary 
X'd out in red edits: ur face, ur name, ur abrasive point-of-
viewโ€”
which, after careful consideration, we decided was 
unhinged & unprofessionalโ€”that is, unproductive & unrelated
to our mission of
stakeholder genuflection, meeting our projections, 
revenue collection, societal correction, 
quelling insurrection & quiet-quitter detection. we gotta
piggyback. we gotta
optimize. 
no slow wins. no soft stops, just
market saturation & steady salivation for that 
low-hanging fruit.
keep ur mouth shut unless it's feeding too, cuz we
just want that juice. our
integrity is fluid. our
humility is performative. 
god forbid we listen to our gut when it gurgles with the truth. 
FYI, u'll get over it 
eventually, as long as u
don't stop chanting our mantra: like a 
cancer cell, we just keep growing. 
best, 
an acquisition-in-progress

Responses

  1. Alana Avatar

    Spectacularly sharp and witty and linguistically dextrous! Congrats on the feature!

    Like

  2. Peter Avatar

    Wow!! This is fantastic! I love saying it out loud. Congrats on being Poet of the Day!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. elizabethburnam Avatar

      Thanks so much! Itโ€™s definitely a fun one to say aloud haha

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Andrea R Huelsenbeck Avatar

    Wow! This is well-done!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Manja Maksimoviฤ Avatar

    Ahh. Proper, not gonna lie. I felt it all, especially that “please”. And that strange, hanging fruit.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. elizabethburnam Avatar

      Thanks so much! So happy you enjoyed it ๐Ÿ˜Š

      Liked by 1 person

  5. serendippitysays Avatar

    Congratulations on being the featured poet! What an amazing poem–to be able to maintain the voice and tone throughout two sets of letters is really an accomplishment.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. elizabethburnam Avatar

      Thank you!! I had a lot of fun with this one haha

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Arti Jain Avatar

    Congratulations! This is a brilliant abecedarian.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. elizabethburnam Avatar
  7. Niwlen Ster Avatar

    Incredible! Just fantastic.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. elizabethburnam Avatar

      Thank you!! ๐Ÿ˜Š

      Like

  8. Lisa Avatar

    Well done!! Working in a semi-corporate world I feel every abc of this ๐Ÿ™‚

    Liked by 2 people

    1. elizabethburnam Avatar

      Thanks so much! Nice to know someone understands lol ๐Ÿ˜†

      Like

  9. Jasmine Maki Avatar

    Beautifully brilliant. Love the flow and the word choice is wonderful

    Liked by 1 person

    1. elizabethburnam Avatar

      Thank you so much!!

      Like

  10. Sidra Elvey Avatar

    This is amazing! Congrats on the feature, this poem totally deserves more attention!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. elizabethburnam Avatar

      Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Nina Lewis Avatar

    Congratulations on the featured poem — I can’t believe you mirrored the alphabet back up! Some brilliant lines.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. elizabethburnam Avatar

      Thank you!! ๐Ÿ˜Š๐Ÿ™

      Like

  12. Cris Avatar

    This is so fabulous! So much fun to read. Congratulations!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. elizabethburnam Avatar

      Thank you so much!!

      Like

  13. kittysverses Avatar

    Wow!! This is a great composition. Congratulations on being the featured poet. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Liked by 1 person

    1. elizabethburnam Avatar

      Thank you so much!!

      Like

  14. paeansunplugged Avatar

    Amazing write! Congratulations.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. elizabethburnam Avatar
  15. Ali Grimshaw Avatar

    Impressive. I loved this.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. lifelessons Avatar

    An amazingly clever response to the prompt.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. elizabethburnam Avatar

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