Brian Rusch | + Follow Poet |
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The Rites of Business

When one hits pay-dirt
How far can this go

The thrill in success is habit forming
Success becoming currency of the day’s blo'

Materialism playing a heavy hand as judgment
With minions waiting to join in

Groping for a share... a nibble
Crumbs from a well stocked table thin

Success breeding honey pots
Of opportunity to crowds waiting...

To fill the known orchards
Supplying needed and peripheral ingredients baiting

To whatever the market will handle 
Sales and profits bloat to extremes

So did live fluctuations...
Demands creating room for re-supply schemes 

May the best man supply
Even to excess if the profits allow for it

Sales for the sake of a sale
Profit gleaning until limits reached fit

Then at limits, belt tightening occurs
Competition gets misty

May the best men rule the day
Profits shrink tighter around honey pots risky

Profits looking for further supports
Even to cutting corners.

___*___

Not my loss
Parts turn on parts

Inner competitions flare
Consolidating looks for more glory from past days starts

The wolves come out from hiding
Killing off the timid lazy

Then rid the thieves and easy prey
Even vampires come under attacks… crazy

Leaving nepotism’s standing for last
Favorites then Cronies being the last to go

Leaving bare bones to be picked
How institutions set up for feeding know

Scraping bones so well.

___*___

And if basics do not hold
Mergers and buyouts occur

Around tight consolidations
Who the most fierce holding on were...

The home boys
Nodules that remain for the last pickings

While new frontiers are found by settlers
Looking for repeats ticking

So do infections thrive 
Growing, expanding, then deflate

Around the industries of old
Scraping perimeters for new that rate

Even waking the dead
Making sure all graves are kept clean

And the entrepreneurs, partners, families, friends, fill the landscapes of America
Sharing in the profits with outside family and friends teamed

And when families weren’t enough
Questions abound looking for stragglers

What about strangers of the same fold
For profit remains for the king’s own hagglers 

The nest squeezers always looking for more
As more is the king

So why not groups of those seeking more
To invest supplying financing lubrication's bling

To oil the gears of business
Hands in the till just for investing

A new game in town
As Nature itself came under siege resting

With conscience, ethics, and fair play
Finally put to bed.

___*___

Investing vendors joining the parties
Institutions grow as supporting investors

With nothing but money to fill in needed pockets
No talent and little time outside stock report requestors 

Getting stronger over time 
So strong, they become the last to leave

Shorts picking up their profits 
At closing time retrieve.

___*___

So did, so does business prosper
With labor and resources getting the bill

Because after all it is a variable cost
In wages and benefits still

Find the best... cheapest employees
The market will hold

For wealth minds not sharing
For a little while bold.

The games the thing
And the toys the prize

Equal to dreams and comforts
While man’s true meaning lies…

Well, it remains in there folded, somewhere
Always worth a few pence at the end

The shill, bleeding heart excuses, and guilty conscience
Always worth more dimes and nickles mend

So does modern business prosper
Until all gray grounds are used up.

Copyright © Brian Rusch | Year Posted 2025

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