Poetic views of good ideas
By 
Play on Words
In a good play on words
Ideas seem to just emerge,
Fully formed long lyrical lines
From the chamber of a brilliant mind.
Hah! Don’t believe it my friends!
Chaos–thousands, thousands of words,
Ideas, theories, notions carom off walls,
Tumble off the backs of one another.
Some drift lazily like hot-air balloons,
Bump gently up against the ceiling
Or as bats do hang upside down.
Others dash madly about like sperm
In passionate search of an egg to fertilize,
While those deemed worthless fall away
And die a slow lingering death.
How sad is the dismembered idea!
Once in a great while an event occurs.
Call it metamorphosis, transformation,
Inspiration out of the incomprehensible–
An idea is born and pops into plain view.
Such joy in the chamber of the mind that night
As all of those still stuck in chaos party
In everlasting hope their turn will come.
The birth of a good idea is rare indeed.
Even rarer are those who have the gift.
To those who do, we say Salut!
Will
It’s a matter of will
This game of life
Is inner rather than outer
But doesn’t express will
While execution–oh yes
No prescription here
Yet focus drives
Closure
Organizations are built
Survive and prosper
Based on will one or multiple
Governments fail from lack
Fortunes rise and fall
And great art is made by force of
You won’t find will in résumés
It isn’t always noisy
And often lies deep
Obsession while not will
Is part of the intensity
Which is a precondition
Passion and huge ambition
All over a good idea
Will unromanticized
Along with love
It is our most powerful
H. Peter Karoff is founder and chairman of The Philanthropic Initiative.