maybe You can tell me–

Posted on by claudia

pushing certain buttons
can be delicate, it implies
a dash of intuition some-
times which, well–

he’s Norwegian
(if you saw him you’d know why
i call him VikingMan), a sales guy,
robbed off spitting seas & buckling boat deck–
he left his camera lying

in the taxi (yes,
we got it back–), & now make
our way through end-less
floors, no wind or storm
& all potential enemies
hide silently behind thick
mahogany doors, lap-

top like a piece of swag
pressed to his chest,
he jokes “if all else fails, we push

the swedish button– yaKnow
what this means?”, i smile
with just a look & by the way
his hair sways like a flag
through corporate corridors, i

balance in white blouse and
heels across a slingering deck &
in a mix of venturelust & sea-
sickness, think “yep–
it is a shame that
no one really knows
where all the pirates went”

.

over at dVerse, Brian Miller pushes the right buttons to unbutton our poetic creativity.. see you over there at 3pm EST.. and if you ever hear an Norwegian talking about the swedish button, he’s trying to tell you to press the reset button on the computer…smiles

67 responses to “maybe You can tell me–”

  5. Great stuff, Claudia – what would we do without all manner of buttons in this crazy age? I love most things Scandinavian and I particularly love the last verse – older ‘buttons’ are vital for blouses, too! 🙂

  8. I loved the modern setting mixed with the swashbuckling pirate sea-faring feel. A very clever combination of thought and, loved the description of his hair moving in waves. This whole write made me smile 🙂

  11. pretty funny on the swedish button…love your descriptions…made me think Led Zeppelin…Immigrant song….and we need a few more pirates…not sure about using a reset button though, figure i would just screw it up again…smiles…

    hey i am alive…smiles.

  12. You sure pushed some buttons for sure and might make the world go boom with your reset tour, could be good could be bad, but you might make the rich people mad..haha

  14. Claudia, this is a very successful poetic summing up of going to a business meeting with a partner in pirate-ship mode! We only kid ourselves when we say that days of Robben Barons are over!

  20. Hmmm… gotta look up that swedish button thang. Never know when I might need it, whatever it be. It sounds fun, hanging with you on a business meeting, sailing seas in search of loot (yes, I stopped myself from using the other word). Always, always in your poem, there’s a teetering sense of reality lurking somewhere around the corner, or is it dream that might reset our entire understanding of what reality is, even in the crazy world of bizzyness.

  22. Pirates in corporate corridors…not so unrealistic. The piracy overlay on the business meeting is genius.

  23. Pingback: maybe You can tell me– « thebleedingpen

  24. It’s adventure on the high seas, a corporate playground where the pirates have disappeared…thank goodness for that reset button…I want to find the pirates!

  30. You mean what we Swedes call the Norwegian button?? (Just joking–no idea if that’s true, as I’m strictly an american sort of swede.) This was great fun, Claudia, and you made the man very real and attractive–but then I’m partial to Vikings.

  34. Wunderschön! I especially loved the two last stanzas, with you, seasick on your high heels, and him, “his hair sway[ing] like a flag / through corporate corridors”! Written with humour and wit. Bravo!

  42. Your portrayal of Viking decedent in business setting is fun and does what poetry does- shakes up our perspective so we see freshly. Thanks!

  44. I really enjoyed reading this and I have a favourite part already:-
    “& all potential enemies
    hide silently behind thick
    mahogany doors, lap-

    top like a piece of swag
    pressed to his chest,
    he jokes “if all else fails, we push

    the swedish button”

  46. Oh still my half Norwegian heart! Yumm
    You really know how to pen a picture
    “robbed off spitting seas and buckling boat deck”
    “hair sways like a flag through corporate corridors ”
    “balance in a white blouse and heels.. ”
    Great poem!!

  48. All gone to mercantile halls – still buccaneers though by the sound of it. Love your use of mariner terms through the run and ride through a businessman’s sea — very clever and deftly penned!

  49. Buttons, buttons, ugh hahaa everyone’s is different. Mine is bad grammar and not being able to spot what others see in places of esteem! Great write C, nice to see you going from strength to strength my friend.

  50. ‘slingering’ … such a great word for your kind of buccaneering 🙂 Love the mix of corporate strait-jacket and piratical adventuring..

  52. well, i’m not a pirate, but i am a caveman, does that count?

    very clever claudia, you created a lot of sexual tension and maintain it all the way thru… a lot of really great lines, and as always, your voice is strong in this.

  53. I loved the last stanza of this, Claudia–I always had that feeling when dressed for a business meeting and never described it so well! I’m so glad those days appear to be over… knock on the wooden gangplank…

  58. “in a mix of venturelust & sea-
    sickness, think “yep–
    it is a shame that
    no one really knows
    where all the pirates went”

    Hold on to your youth and wisdom too
    if you ever attempt time travel.”

    LOVE this.

  59. A cool write, Claudia. “balance in white blouse and
    heels across a slingering deck &
    in a mix of venturelust & sea-
    sickness” love that image !

  60. Swashbuckling, me lass!!! I can hear your voice reading this, and your eyes rolling with passion like the ocean on the swells of your wild words.

    off to don a puffy-sleeved shirt and some heels now…

    xo

  61. “maybe You can tell me–

    balance in white blouse and
    heels across a slingering deck &
    in a mix of venturelust & sea-
    sickness, think “yep–
    it is a shame that
    no one really knows
    where all the pirates went”

    Buttons, Venturelust, Vikingman, and the Sea…What a combination…Claudia, Tks, for sharing your very poetic words…once again!
    deedee 😉