Poem: Advice From A Senior Executive by Rehan Qayoom

Advice From A Senior Executive

By Rehan Qayoom
QuailBellMagazine.com

After Parveen Shakir
 
 The Senior Executive where I work
Called me rather unusually to his office one day
Frowning uneasily he asked after a couple of files -
And my non-civil pastimes
Then shed light upon the standing of a poet in society
The gist of what he said
Was that a poet has the same role in a nation
As an appendix in our bodies
​

​Absolutely Useless but able at times to cause great pain
So there is only one way of getting rid of it – Surgery!
A feint smile played upon his lips, as he imagined he had rid himself
Of the appendix of my personality
Then said
'An ideal consultant
Has no face
First lips disappear
Then eyes
Followed ears
Until finally poets lose their heads
Without loss of lips, eyes, ears and brains
Nobody can become, a Federal Secretary!'
 
To further enhance his argument he referred to couple of barmy diplomats
But I think he must've read my mind or facial expressions
That this fool is content merely to remain a Local poet
Disheartened he permitted me
To take my leave for the day
And I the fool returned to my office
Having found inspiration for a new poem
Well aware of a possible entry in red ink
In my A.C.R.*
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
* Annual Confidential Report.