Villanelle Nr.17 — Bureaucrat

You're more of a chief, seems to me.  Excellent work.  

Thank you Crow - {I can now confidently give up my day job  :)) }
Lovely to hear from you.

Excellent, Josh! And so true! I used to be in retail and felt the same way.  

Have you ever read "All the Names" by  José Saramago?  It's one of my favorite books by a favorite author.  It's about a clerk, and this poem was perfect!

Thank you A, and for the RL. I'm familiar with Saramago's 'The Elephant's Journey' but not 'All the Names'. I'll check it out. I was on 'the other side of the counter' for a (very) short time ages back - and the experience still sticks with me  :))

The ennui of our postmodern life...we live in a world of bureaucracy and tedium...we are all connected lol. Great  poetical commentary Josh.
Everything is happening all at once...Harry

Thank you Harry, & for the RL too. I've found here in Portugal that bureaucracy is very human - you actually get to speak to people - rather than an answering machine. Of course you have to travel - and have nothing else planned for the day - but it works and they love to solve problems  :))

Super beautifully crafted verses - I am in awe of your talent - smiles

Thank you SweetOblivion - glad you enjoyed it. Sometimes I feel my brain is hard-wired the villanelle form.
To date the one I like the best in my global search for the perfect villanelle is this one by American poet Ronald Wallace:
https://youtu.be/sEzmAEKy-K0

I shall read and review - I'm hooked on Dylan Thomas - https://poets.org/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night

Magnetron ran this through his super computer analysis and concluded it was form-tastic.

Thank you - and for the RL. I am happy to have confirmed the poem has been given the green light via the filter of logical analysis.

your third line (i read this before listening) had me almost humming 'i am the very model of a modern major-general' :D

it's true: bureaucracy is a vast machine, turning to its own rhythm and dismissing the impatient concerns of the individual. i am FULLY conversant with how it rolls and it is frustrating. having said that, it (mostly) does work in the fullness of time. and we should remember that, whilst bureaucracy is a machine, bureaucrats are more than mere cogs. they are people. people who are mostly determined to do their very best impression of machine cogs. :rolls eyes:


bare?


p.s the villanelle is the perfect form to adopt for this message: the broken nature of forward momentum; the repetition of phrases reflecting the reps we come across in questions requiring answering and forms to be filled... the formality of it all. nice write!

"your third line (i read this before listening) had me almost humming 'i am the very model of a modern major-general' :D"  
... I was brought up on Gilbert & Sullivan - my parents were great fans - I can see the connection  
 
"and we should remember that, whilst bureaucracy is a machine, bureaucrats are more than mere cogs. they are people."  
... stanza 4 was a nod in that direction. In Portugal bureaucracy is mainly local and you see the same people in the supermarket - which reminds one of the human element - and possibly cost to doing such jobs day after day (I didn't last long myself)  
 
"bare?"  
... ah yes, I've been PM'd about that too. I'm not sure if it was an auto-correct by machine or a a failed-connect in my own brain. Either way, now changed, thank you.  
 
"p.s the villanelle is the perfect form to adopt for this message: ....."  
...thank you for your comments here. I've been reading the villanelle has a history of being "anti-elitist, female-friendly and cross-cultural" since its inception in 16th century Italy where it evolved about the same time as the madrigal. For me it lends itself to dealing with serious subjects in a light-hearted manner. I imagine them being used by court-jesters to tell a few home-truths to those in power - one of its continuing roles I guess. Check out the link I posted in reply to SweetOblivion above.

Nice write Josh, it brings to mind the bane of modern life with a whiff of Lord Acton ...

Thank you AB. Power corrupts in many ways I guess. One is through obstreperous bureaucracy - even worse through digital bureaucracy as people try and claim benefits via the computer - access denied, etc.

This brings back many a memory...though yours seems
less mired in corruption...than they tend to be here... hugs, Ely

Thank you Ely - and for the RL. Here, as far as my experience goes, it's honourable to deal straight at a local level - though what happens higher up I've no idea  :))

Probably best we don't know...some things  are better left alone...hugs... Ely

There is a continuity in your writes I admire. A terrific economy, a lilt of rhyme with just a touch of cheek, counterpointing a depth of meaning in the substrata and a syllabic harmony that speaks of long acquaintance with the quill. Been over this a few times admiring it. Love the refrain, it has an anchoring quality. Great work!

Thank you for the thoughtful comment again Daniel. I always learn something from your feed-back and appreciate it very much.
"a lilt of rhyme with just a touch of cheek" was what I was aiming for, slightly staccato rendition of human having to operate machine-paced with an endless in-tray. Cheers, best regards, Josh.

Red tape described in a whole new way. Enjoyed the write.
Made me feel somewhat hopeless & insignificant upon reading it.

Hello Billy, glad you enjoyed it. The next stage of bureaucracy will be responding to an algorithm rather than a person (got a villanelle on that too: https://deepundergroundpoetry.com/poems/317090-job-application-filtered-by-an-algorithm/)
Hope it's not too disempowering  :))

Thank you sunsettown for the rad and comment - and for the RL too. Looks like algorithms are gradually replacing people as benefits aplications go on-line - the experience of which I guess makes people feel even more distanced from the human side of life. Hope 2020 starts a more human decade.

Thank you for that, and all the best. "Technology' poems are something I'd like to develop - but not easy. However, I have an idea ...  :))    Josh