Loss Prevention _ new February poem 2017

Waking up wanting to sleep more
A predawn stir my dog sniffing at the door
Inside-Outside he sits and sniffs the change
It"s black morning and there's heavy rain
My memory receives electricity to roam
Back to my father at the dinning room table
Working on an opening argument, summation
Closing argument; analyzing the New York Times
How open our California ranch was in the woods
And yet how protected its landscape and gates by design
An occupational medicine department where i was hired at
An independent hospital to work as its only outside salesman
IKEA was one of the companies I was to get back as a client
I had a history with a track record for opening and closing deals
The Coca-Cola Company, Liz Claiborne, HallMark, Baxter Intl.
The list went on my father's Health & Wellness he did on the side
Of his law practice with algorithms in the HRA from Stanford Uni
I tested the online software application that was massive and flirting
Working with a Robotics spinoff company with Artificial Intelligence
Then I moved on to the hospital outside of my father's companies and
New accounts I opened, closed and worked at to retain all in the same
Bayer Corporation president of North America to the Mom & Pop I
Sat down with at the kitchen table and had a beer or two after 5 o'clock
The one thing that loss prevention doesn't address is that of human pain
When someone close to you dies and others you know go too its no game
From my neighbor friend's grandmother from my grandmother's village
To getting the news in a far away city while all alone a long way home
About your own grandmother, your own titan father or the Chief of Police
Living next-door at the time he had to call and say "your nephew is gone
He's missing in the Ohio River it was an accident listen I'm truly sorry John"
Later taking me for a ride in his convertible Thunderbird after he retired and
He passed on too and the funeral home was crowded for Chief Jim Creese ...
I found my way with Business of Poetry and self taught: you can't prevent loss

Written Predawn February 7, 2017
John Conte
mystrawhat.com & TheNewEverydayMedia.com