When is a Loss a Win?

How many times has someone asked you to write them a job recommendation, and you do? Sometimes they get the job, and sometimes not. Here's a poem responding to one just-about-to-graduate friend, after not...

When is a Loss a Win?

-for Dr. S. Lynn

Part of me

was almost sad

to help you net that job

you’d had

Admin done well

without doubt

But I wanted to say

Make a play A big catch

with that postdoc basket

of East Afric skill sets

Why not angle the reel

for more?

Maybe seconds’s a better

success

regardless of what you

wanted most

or thought

went first

 

Old Man Crow taught me

on the rez

You cast intent out in the world

& then just fish with the flow

Watching

instead of willing

Or like my wobbly

red monk hobo balladeer

tracker guru Utah Phillips

sez

Every so often

you have to wake up

& jump

off a cliff

 

Capt. Barefoot Broadside                                          Union of Street Poets

Vincent St. John Local / Colorado Plateau / Aztlán

 Kuksu Brigade (Ret.) / San Francisco

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