A couple of years ago, during a very trying time at work, I tacked the following poem to my office wall as a silent statement of intent. It was and is my favorite:


    Further Notice

    I can't live in this world
    And I refuse to kill myself
    Or let you kill me

    The dill plant lives, the airplane
    My alarm clock, this ink
    I won't go away

    I shall be myself --
    Free, a genius, an embarrassment
    Like the Indian, the buffalo

    Like Yellowstone National Park.

                         -- Philip Whalen