Giving Advice

 

I had a boss, many years ago, who repeatedly expressed his concern about "putting out the fire" ... of discouraging creative thinking and constructive effort.

He avoided that perceived hazard by not riding herd too closely on his employees. He didn't afford them free rein, of course, but he did like them to think for themselves, to offer suggestions and constructive criticism.

His admonition, "Don't put out the fire," stuck with me long after. It finally begged me to put it to paper. In doing so, I visualized an old man, quite unlike my boss, teaching a rank beginner to build a fire and to keep it going.

The old man is the narrator, and there is no two-way conversation: We don't hear anything from his young pupil, obviously a good listener. There aren't even any quotation marks in this piece. But, despite that violation, I think it works.

I think the poem works on two levels, and I like that. The poem:

 

GIVING ADVICE

Now be careful, he said,

or you’ll put out the fire,

the spark, the flame,

the desire that sprang up

and wavered, waiting.

 

Fan it too much, or pile on

more than it can handle

in its early, struggling,

starved-for-oxygen stage,

and it’s a sure goner.

 

Neglect it and it’s doomed,

too. Oh, it may flash up

and dance in the darkness,

but it’ll soon burn out,

without some new fuel.

 

It takes a gentle touch,

the hat back and forth

just so, a sure eye watching

for signs that it can

stand alone, in its own heat.

 

Remember, he said, plopping

his battered hat back on,

how it was when you started,

how you needed that touch,

that sweet warmth of success.

© 2001

(originally published in Kaleidoscope)

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Today's word: success