You say that I’m
the glue in this
relationship, a
thought that
surprises me,
until I realize
I would have
to agree: if
there’s one
thing you can
say about me,
it’s that I’ve
stuck around.

.   .   .   .   . 

The Backstory

I love to talk to poets about how they get from the initial thought for a poem to the final product, and about the journey in between. There wasn’t really much of a journey to report for this poem.

I was on the phone with a colleague today discussing a job I had recently left after a long tenure when I said that some day I’d like to be the glue that held a team together at work, and my colleague said, “well, you were kind of glue”.

When I asked what she meant, she said, “you sure stuck around long a long time”. I thought that was funny. At least, funny enough to immediately hang up and crank out this poem.