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4 poems by Richard Porter, Nonprofit Poet Laureate of the Milky Way Galaxy

Vu

— 3 min read
[Image Description: A white and light pink apple blossom, with five petals, in full bloom, contrasted against green leaves. It has several purple pistils with orange tips. The composition places the flower to the left of the picture and in focus. On the upper right, in the background ad out of focus, is another apple blossom in bloom.]
Hi everyone. Today is the third day of the Lunar New Year, and the return of Spring, and according to traditions, one is supposed to avoid stress and arguments, as whatever one does and feels on these days sets the tone for the rest of the year. So I’ve just been stuffing my face with hard cider and dark chocolate and avoiding the news.So, instead of writing a serious post today—several serious ones are coming—I had asked Richard Porter, our Nonprofit Poet Laureate of the Milky Way Galaxy, to write some poems that capture the essence of our sector. Richard, you may recall, won the first-ever Nonprofit Poetry Contest. His poem, replicated below, with its heartbreaking earnestness and yearning, captured the hearts of the judges. He follows it with three more poems. Our field is full of talented individuals, including many artists. Thanks, Richard and other artists, for illuminating our world. 

“Richard vs. the Line-Item Budget”

(1st Place Winner of the Nonprofit Poetry Contest 2016)

Pleasedo not make me beg for $$$ to buy a laminator.I have suffered the 1001 indignities of social work and all I want is a nice A4 document pressed between 2 silky-soft sheets of ethylene-vinyl acetate.Fresh pressed I want it to warm my hands.I want our funders to esteem us based upon the quality of our printed promotional materials.I want laminating sheets that are as extremely durable and stress resistantas I would like to be.

“Database”

i dream of a database pure with algorithms like strong hands to knead shifting clouds of ones & zeroesinfallible database accurate to the decimal point navigable & never buggydatabase with up to the second case notesmaintained by three full time/well paid admins with access to good coffee doing data entry surveys ceaseless internal audits*though i know technology can only supplement and never replace the finest lo-fi tools of our trade:eye contact the listening ear coffee & aspirina diamond infinity of patience

“Volunteer Appreciation”

The theme for this year's volunteer party Was going to be "Our Volunteers Are Outta This World: The Cosmic Bowling Experience"ImagineTwo hours Three frames Discount group rate on shoe rentals Pizza Lasers Fog Banners (Confetti?) Team buildingBut then Twenty five out of twenty five volunteers surveyed Circled they "strongly disagree" with the idea of going bowlingSo we're doing a potluck dessert thing Low keyI will keep my ball and shoes in the trunk Just in case Anyone changes their mind

“House Calls”

Note from Richard: These are real experiences from my days as a case manager. Some details have been altered to respect the confidentiality of my former clients.this is a fire hazardcramped apartment a collection of floor to ceiling cookbooks I walk uncomfortably through a tight maze of grinning Rachael Rayscramped apartment soot grey walls boom box Aerosmith man and teenage son sit side by side on couch watching me through slit eyes arms crossed chain smoking it is my job to tell them to clean their kitchen because the antscramped apartment man with intimidating muscles offers to let me pet his ball python "He's calm. He just ate three frozen mice." I say no thanks snake smells stale, sinistercramped apartment guy lying on sagged mattress walrus mustache feeding sour cream and cheddar potato chips to a rabbit named Mr. Bun Buncramped apartment trying to fill out paperwork with client she's watching the end of Nutty Professor 2 and won't stop laughing I give up and join her in watching the rest of the movie okay it's a pretty funny movie***Richard works for Volunteer Chore Services of Snohomish County. “Our program matches volunteers to disabled, low-income seniors for housework and transportation services. This allows seniors to age in place in their community.”***Make Mondays suck a little less. Get a notice each Monday morning when a new post arrives. Subscribe to NWB by scrolling to the top right of this page (maybe scroll down a little) and enter in your email address (If you’re on the phone, it may be at the bottom). Also, join the NWB Facebook community for daily hilarity.Donate, or give a grant, to Vu’s organization, Rainier Valley Corps, which has the mission of bringing more leaders of color into the nonprofit sector and getting diverse communities to work together to address systemic issues.Also, join Nonprofit Happy Hour, a peer support group on Facebook, and if you are an ED/CEO, join ED Happy Hour. These are great forums for when you have a problem and want to get advice from colleagues, or you just want to share pictures of unicorns. Check them out.Oh, and support the maintenance of this website by buying NWB t-shirts and mugs and other stuff.

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