With all the things I am currently involved in, am I just painting roads on my LinkedIn walls to convince myself that I am going places? Or am I running on a treadmill of life?
Going Places
By Lemn Sisay
cigarette ash.
television serial filled.
advert analysing.
cupboard starving.
front room filling.
tea slurping.
mind chewing.
brain burping.
carpet picking.
pots watching.
room gleaming.
toilet flushing.
night, with nothing to do.
I think I'll paint roads.
on my front room walls.
to convince myself.
that I'm going places."
A Reflection
I am usually filled with doubtful voices… voices that keep asking:
Is it the best you can do? What more can you do?
Are you going places?
Or running on a treadmill of life?"
I never get a silver bullet to help me silence these insidious voices. But reading this poem by Lemn had an intriguing & ring to it.
Of course I never had a night with nothing to do; a cigarette to pass the time. On the other hand, I have had my fair share of mind chewing; brain burping; reel analyzing and toilet flushing times. Yet the most important questions becomes with all the things I am currently involved in, am I just painting roads on my LinkedIn walls to convince myself that I am going places.
Poet's Bio
Lemn Sissay is an acclaimed Ethiopian-British poet, playwright, and broadcaster. Born in 1967 in Wigan, UK, he spent his childhood in foster care and children's homes after a difficult separation from his Ethiopian mother. Sissay is celebrated for his compelling memoirs and impactful public service to literature.
