Raven Cage has published the following poems:

Failure is not an option

My failures
Total Success or Total Failure
Dejavu All Over Again
General Failure Reading Disk Drives

corona virus revised

Raven Cage Publishes Poems

Failure is Not an Option

weasel words

Failure is not an option
Is a weasel word

Weasel words
Are Orwellian words
Designed to shut down
Rational thought

And ironically
these words

“Failure is not an Option”
usually accompanied by macho posturing
and false bravado
and extreme hubris

Often leads to spectacular failure
Because logically speaking
Failure is always an implied option

as is the null hypothesis of doing nothing
nothing at all and let the status quo
remain the stars quo

Leaders need to look at all options
Including what to do
If they fail to achieve their goals
or doing nothing at all

They must have a plan
To learn from their failures

If not following the dictates
The false macho posturing
That failure is not an option
Will often lead to the feared failure

On Failure

They say that failure
Is the best teacher of all

And I have learned
from the proverbial
school of hard knocks

So much from my failures
And I have failed so much
In my life

But I have gotten better
Stronger and wiser
and am a much better person
Because I have failed

And embraced my failures
Failed first grade
Almost failed math and physics
Failed music college

Almost failed statistics in college
and graduate school
just don’t have a mathematical mind

Almost failed my life
in the Peace Corps
Dealing with Typhoid

Almost failed my job
when I was in Bangkok

Almost failed my life
In the hospital for almost a year
battling a mutant staph MDR infection
from hell

and an acute GI infection
that almost killed me
later battled dengue fever

Almost failed to learn Spanish
Failed as a visa chief in Spain

And throughout my failures
There is one thing I learned

With the support of my wife
And my friends

I can and will overcome
everything that
life throws at me

and become even stronger
wiser and a better person

because I have overcome
and learned from
my failures

Dejavu All Over Again

 

Looking at the dismal news
As the virus spreads
Out of control

With no end in sight
Back in April
Hospitals begged for relief
From a lack of PPD
And equipment etc

And for a few weeks
It seemed we were fine
But we failed to prepare

For the continuation of the pandemic
And our stockpile has been overwhelmed
Our hospitals are overwhelmed

And it could have been prevented
If our leaders had kept up
Stockpiling for the inevitable second wave

Even as the first wave has yet
To reach its peak

So I say
It is all dejavu all over again

General Failure Reading Disk Drive

My computer loves
Spitting out error messages
Written like haiku

Mysterious messages
Hard to understand
only computer geeks
can follow

My favorite has always been

General Failure Reading Disk drive

The question comes to mind
Who is this General Failure

And why is reading my disk drive
Anyway?

the End