Corporate Poetry
"Corporate Poetry?" I can hear you puzzling, bemusedly. Yes, I know full well that for some, perhaps many, the words "corporate" and "poetry" are a contradiction in terms, are words that should not be uttered in the same breath, are, when taken together, an oxymoron on the scale of jumbo shrimp. But now I ask you, "Please hear me out."To be sure, there is much about life in modern corporations that would seem to be the very antithesis of all that we associate with poetry, in particular, and art more generally. Business-speak, i.e. phrases like best practices, business process reengineering, downsizing, total quality management, efficient consumer response, and dotcom, as well as a bewildering array of acronymns, rightly strike many as euphemism, mixed metaphor, and verbal slight of hand. Modern business jargon is so anti-septic and its imperatives so technocratic that it rightly lends the impression of having been pieced together by a standing committee rather than having sprung forth fully-formed from the minds of inspired employees.
All of that having been said, I want to assure you that yes, there is such a thing as corporate poetry and that far from being either bland or mere blandishment, it is both rich in metaphor and richly rewarding. But perhaps this is an instance where persuasion is better achieved through showing rather than telling and by letting the reader do the judging. With that thought in mind, I have taken the time to round up links for three sites about business poetry, organized by functional area no less.
General Management
Without a doubt, the chairman of the board of business poets is Britisher Ralph Windle whose non de plum is Bertie Ramsbottom. Among his most well-known and widely acclaimed works are The Bottom Line- a Book of Boardroom Ballads, and the The Poetry of Business Life: An Anthology.
Accounting
Here's something I found on the University of Glagow's Department of Accounting and Finance webpage:
"If you are an accountant who writes or reads poetry, you should stop it immediately - you are a disgrace to your profession. Stick to the ledger; you have no right to stray from the business of business. What? No ledger! No quill? Personal thoughts about work and the whole human experience? And to think someone outside the profession might also stumble across poems written by accountants! What is the world coming to?"
So writes Steve Evans, Flinders University, South Australia in the Foreword of [Poetic Accounts, a] wonderful anthology of accounting and business poetry. He continues by eschewing his love of poetry and explains how many younger poets today come from the professions and why not? The editors in their introduction state; "The power of poetry (should) transgress and challenge rules and meaning. All the poems in this collection touch on our moral or ethical existence." "Success in the modern "rat race" often hinges on mastery of "solid" facts and "slick" presentation to win certain instrumental kudos. Must the money-man be doomed to be shallow and spiritually vacuous?
But we are not just accountants, we are body and soul. Even if there was no link between accounting and poetry we are still human. When and where could there be some space for self reflection? So, do try something totally different and read the poetry. These few well-placed words might just stimulate a new sense of discovery and adventure and re-awaken a sense of social connectedness and wonderment of beauty."
The editors are Wan Ying Hill, Ken McPhail and Tony Tinker and the photographs throughout the book are original works by Wan Ying and Ken. The book is published by The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, ISBN: 1 85908 416 8.
After delving into this anthology, you will agree with Steve Evans' final words. "Accounting and poetry? You bet!"
Human Resource Management
Small Business Notes maintains a page entitled "The Poetry of Business" with commentary on and links to works to several poets, some of whom are well-known for poetry in other areas of life and some who focus on business poetry only:
Carl Sandburg in his Chicago Collection addresses all aspects of Chicago life, including its business life. Skyscraper discusses what transpires in the daily life of a skyscraper; To Certain Journeymen is about the business of dying; and Working Girls muses on the flow of life.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Work Without Hope comments on the constancy of work as part of all nature.
Frank Halliwell in The Customer provides a tongue-in-cheek commentary on being put on hold.
Michael Benedikt writes what he calls Prose Poems that describe many aspects of the business of life.
Finally, The Business Poetry page on the same site provides even more links, information, and commentary. Two books to which they and many other sites provide links are Tracy Lynn Repchuk's The Poetry of Business and David Whyte's The Heart Aroused : Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America. One that was not included but should have been is Charles Albano's Skyline Drive: A Poetic Journey Through Business Life. Albano is a well-respected organization theorist whose works have been published in numerous presitigious academic journals.
It is my sincere hope that that the reader will consider perusing some or all of the above selections. And while I make no claim that what is found will stir every, or even one, soul, I can aver that business poetry's promise is the opportunity to reconsider our corporate lives and selves in a new light, the light of that same soul.
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