THOSE MEETINGS

Those Meetings

By Paul Hostovsky

 Are you still going to those meetings?

Those meetings are like no meetings you’ve ever attended.

they always start on time and end on time

and everyone introduces themselves before they speak 

so that no one forgets who they are or what they are.

and they don’t interrupt each other or even address each other,

they just go around the room and tell these stories

and the stories are true and they’re all the same story

with slight variations in the precious indispensable details

and everyone thanks each other in a chorus of thank-yous

and no one takes minutes and there are no action items,  

because everyone’s action item is the same action item

and they do it together and they do it alone and no one

checks to make sure it got done and no one checks,

to see who belongs at the meetings and who doesn’t belong

because everyone belongs if they say they belong 

and they can’t kick you out unless you’re disrupting the meeting- 

and in that case they do it gently and invite you back

and there are morning meetings and lunchtime meetings 

and nighttime meetings and beginner’s meetings before the meetings

and there are no executives and there is no meeting agenda

and they take turns running the meetings which always run smoothly

and everything always gets done that needed to be done

and everything always gets said that needed to be said 

and they’ll tell you there's no such thing as a bad meeting.

and if you think your meetings should run more like those meetings,

if you think your work meetings or town meetings or city meetings

or state or country’s meetings should run more like those meetings,

if you think the whole world should run more like those meetings,

the people who go to those meetings won’t disagree with you

but they won’t be interested in extrapolating from those meetings.

how to run the world because they’re not trying to change the world 

they’re only trying to change their minds about the world.