PRAGMATICO: The Person Looking out the Window from their Desk
A poem by Wendell Berry
Not a poem by Wendell Berry
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
Okay with the salary, barely got a raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
not enough vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
time to make things by hand. Don't
to know your neighbors and to die.
know your neighbors all that well.
And you will have a window in your head.
And you are looking out the window at the office
Not even your future will be a mystery
The future is a mystery,
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
sometimes. Though your eyes are usually stuck on the screen
and shut away in a little drawer.
looking into those windows.
When they want you to buy something
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
they email you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
to stay longer at work, they don't say anything.
So, friends, every day do something
So, you'd like to do something every day
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
that doesn't comply. Love the cold.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Let your phone die. Work slower.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Take all that you have and know it's more than enough.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Be patient.
Denounce the government and embrace
Denounce technology but use
the flag. Hope to live in that free
it well. Hope to live in a world
republic for which it stands.
where you have power.
Give your approval to all you cannot
Give that power to others without losing
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
your own. Do not fear the unknown, for it is
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
the source of curiosity.
Go with your love to the fields.
Spend time with all that you love.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
Get enough sleep. Rest when
in her lap. Swear allegiance
you are awake. Commit
to what is nighest your thoughts.
to your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
As soon as the feed
can predict the motions of your mind,
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
put down your phone for a second. Leave
to mark the false trail, the way
it on the table, and go
you didn't go.
to another room.
Be like the fox
Be like the rock
who makes more tracks than necessary,
that is at the bottom of the sea
some in the wrong direction.
not doing anyone else any favors.
Practice resurrection.
Practice.
