The Meeting
BY JIM LANDWEHR
Everyone around the table was
navigating through the meeting
casting noncommitments around freely
evading work with vagueness and excuses
nodding to the boss with their
personal variations of the boss nod.
The meeting was a formulaic soul killer
serving no measurable purpose
except to do what meetings do best
which is to generate more meetings.
Attendees took notes at times
but those who wished they
weren’t there in that meeting
did not take a single note.
I did not take notes.
The meeting dragged on and on.
Its leader, clearly new to meeting leading,
stopped caring himself halfway through.
I actually saw his spirit leave his body
as it yawned itself toward the ceiling.
And once everyone had their shot
at dropping a few buzzwords
leveraging the platform
empowering the Tiger team
using synergy to increase market share
while ensuring ROI for Q3 on the R2D2
They eventually called the meeting done
in part because of the realization that
it could have been an email, but
mostly because it had become
that wet log you try to burn
in your campfire
but it just won’t start.
Jim Landwehr has four published memoirs, At the Lake, Cretin Boy, Dirty Shirt and The Portland House. He also has five poetry collections, Thoughts from a Line at the DMV, Genetically Speaking, Reciting from Memory, Written Life and On a Road. His nonfiction and poetry has been featured in numerous magazines and journals. Jim lives in Waukesha, Wisconsin and was the 2018-2019 poet laureate for the Village of Wales, Wisconsin.
south broadway press 