self help

~ self help ~

a surprise gift on my desk today:

a small paperback

with positive color and pointing arrows,

packed full of promises

of perfecting my personality;

meant to mold it

into another corporate citizen

who will nod and smile unquestioningly

at perfunctory platitudes

that stoke the share price,

and distract us from the realization

that we ourselves are but stock

in a world of cowering complicity,

from which I willingly help myself.

~Richard