Captains of Industry


How do you become a captain of industry?

Or the captain of your school football team?

I was always in the C-team.

C did not stand for “captain”.

It didn’t stand for anything.

Which is something close to nothing.


But you learn to pretend to smoke cigarettes.

And pretend to not hold onto regrets.

And winter dreams.


How do you become the captain of a pirate ship?

Like Captain Morgan or Captain Hook?

Chasing shadows but afraid of blood.

Relentless as a ticking clock.

Lost as boys and lost as men.

Going away means forgetting.

But you learn that you can’t outrun time.

And you learn to forget what you once had in mind.


“Long ago there was something in me. 

But now that thing is gone.”

Like winter dreams.


How do you become a captain of industry?

Or the leader of a Great country?

This is just a question.

I don’t have an answer.

I don’t know the next line.

I don’t have a punchline.

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