I am a cog.
But my words and ideas form on the lips of greatness.
Spoken leader-to-leader, my words are shared with the sharpest minds
those at the forefront of this messy attempt to wrangle the incalculable losses,
to build a shared sense of responsibility.
The words I write pass onward and up, hand to hand, through to the highest level;
I watch as they go.
From this vantage point, I begin. I answer the questions before they are asked,
words on a page – my words –
I propose the way forward then wait to see what changes are made.
I can see it all before me, the global shifting, the positioning and posturing,
leaders of countries and ideas, pushing solutions, approaches, agendas.
I bring the thoughts and ideas of others together, woven through with my own.
I am the knitter of words.
It all comes to me. The questions, the taskings the seeking of views;
what should we say, what would we do, think and get back to us.
And I do.
My day, my always amazing and often exhausting job, described from the final stage, all the way back to the beginning for NaPoWriMo’s suggestion to tell a story in reverse on day 28. The title is taken from a line in Hamlet.
This is so wonderfully empowering. And I think it works really well as a reverse poem–seems to give a sense of the continuing need, continuing work, the round and round hinted at by “cog.” I love the idea of watching your words get handed on and handed on…and of course, the image “knitter of words.”
I’ve always tried and failed to write about my work. This time it just flowed. Thank you; I like what you read into it – the continuing-ness and that round-and-round aspect of cog. The never ending part is exactly what it’s like but it’s also empowering, as you say.