The Manager
The manager has eyes in the back of his head,
eyes on his wings, eyes on his tail,
beautiful butterfly-fish eyes in every aisle.
(from 'The Manager's Eyes')
Probably in the grip of a mid-life crisis, the manager is on the one hand an omniscient mythical being possessed with the superhuman powers of leadership and surveillance, and on the other a flawed and ridiculous character riddled with insecurities and desperate to compensate for the emptiness in his life with managerial mantras.
'Great things are accomplished by talented people who believe they will accomplish them.' (Warren G Bennis, author of Leaders, On Becoming a Leader, Co-leaders, and Managing the Dream)
The manager is a composite character, the hero of a sequence of poems with titles like 'Risk Assessment Exercise' and 'Health and Safety Incident', which follows him through a variety of day-to-day situations and flights of fantasy that spin off the injustices of the workplace and the absurdities of managerial culture.
In the valley tower blocks have broken free of their foundations
and are ringing roses in the sky
rippling their pastel bodywork.
They have heard
the manager is coming.
(from 'Follow the Leader')
To find out more about where I'll be performing The Manager, see the calendar. Listen to 'Risk Assessment Exercise' - you need to click on the link and enter the username and password displayed below.
The competition is closing in.
This terrain is beyond his control.
(from 'He Runs')
