National Poetry at Work Day 15 Jan; One for the innovators

January 15th, 2013. It's National Poetry at Work Day.  How will you use and encounter poetry in your workplace today?

To celebrate, here is a poem that for me fits also in the innovation and improvement workplace. Poetry is about disconnecting the brain and triggering feelings.  Does the poem below mean anything to you?  What can we learn from it about how it feels to be an innovator?

The Viola

Your mauve face squared to the sun,

            velvet soft, centred with cream

                        atop delicate stalks.

                                    -  a wild viola.

Alone in the cracks of the flagstones

            thrusting between cement crusts

                        strikingly out of place

                                    - a solitary beacon.

I watch as pedestrians acknowledge you,

            stepping aside, bowing to your bravery;

                        you bruise gently

                                    - a defiant messenger.

You shiver as the shadows pass.

            I came back the next day;

                        you had hung on

                                    - a dusty viola