​POETRY  -  
          With a Theme of Work

Book Cover Artwork by Ryan Duffy                                                         

2 Poems:  
Neanderthal * and 
Monster
by Thomas O. Davenport

Neanderthal *

​​The workplace seems so civilized
Genteel behavior’s highly prized    
And yet our stone age DNA
Dictates the way we work today     
 
A meeting’s just a battleground
Where savage conflicts still abound
For if my rival wants to tussle
He’ll feel my prehistoric muscle     
 
I’ll rend his flesh and crack his bones
With verbal sticks, virtual stones
I’ll seize his throat and squeeze but good
I’d take his donuts, if I could
 
It’s clear from how we all behave
We’re just one step beyond the cave
In truth, we’ve not evolved at all
Look in the mirror, Neanderthal
 
* ​Author's Note:  Excerpted from Get the Hell to Work—Humorous Verse about Work & Life, Thomas O. Davenport, Kelsay Books, 2020.

Monster

​With form like a creature from mythology
My boss is a monster, no hyperbole
He slinks and he stomps through our cubicle maze
He screeches and roars and his raging eyes blaze
 
Some days he’s a minotaur, armed with an axe
He keeps us on deadline, makes sure we’re not lax
His snort is dismissive, so thunderous his shout
The sound resonates from the ring in his snout
 
At times he’s a gryphon, two beasties combined
The head of an eagle, a lion’s behind
The roaring is deafening, the shrieking is shrill
If talons don’t get you, then jaws surely will
 
His worst form’s the hydra—nine heads, ugly faces
And if you lop two off, four more take their places
He rechecks our numbers and edits our text
If things don’t add up, eighteen fangs in your neck
 
He’s gone off to training on leadership style
To learn to stop screaming, instead to beguile
We’re crossing our fingers that he will transform
And hoping his new form’s a pink unicorn
 
Will work be less stressful? On that point I’m torn
No telling what he’ll do with one pointy horn

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 ​Thomas O. Davenport is an independent writer and business advisor. He spent 32 years as a human resource consultant for a global consulting organization. He has written three business books and many serious articles and now writes sardonic verse on business and social phenomena that amuse and bemuse him. His collection of humorous poems, Get the Hell to Work, was published in 2020 by Kelsay Books. In addition to Visas & Byways, his work has appeared in Defenestration, WORK Literary Magazine and in the anthologies Love Affairs at the Villa Nelle (Kelsay Books, 2019) and Tales from the Classifieds (Blue Cubicle Press, 2020). You can also read his writings on his website, www.worklodes.com.   

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