A memo, in poetry

Even when I'm not writing, I'm writing. I haven't managed to write a new blog post in several weeks, or a new story or poem in several months. But I have been writing: Five work applications, justifying in five different ways how my expertise and experience are well-suited to five different potential positions. A memo seeking approval of funding for a potential new programming initiative. Countless email messages seeking or sharing information.

My writing instructor at the "Writing With Style" course I took at the Banff Centre year-before-last advised us to write well even when we're not writing creatively; to make every word, and every moment of communication, count and be presented in as clean and as meaningful a manner as possible. It's good advice. Every word, every message, every note provides an opportunity to communicate and should be done well.

I wonder what it would be like to write an funding approval memo in poetry instead of prose. The one I wrote this week might have gone like this:

We are seeking your approval
to support the dreams
and aspirations of
600 million people, of whom
130 million remain poor,
not poor in spirit, or poor in heart,
not poor in ambition or talent,
not poor in ability or resourcefulness,
-- for if we were to measure these,
and compare them to ours, I
sometimes wonder where we would fall --
through this initiative that will allow
people to study,
to foster connections,
to spark an idea, or
to make a lasting memory
that just might change the world
or even, only, their own perspective of it