We did a team-building exercise
        in our departmental meeting today.
The scenario: everyone in the room would be
        stranded together on a deserted island
with rescue in no way guaranteed.

We had to write down the one thing
        we’d take with us, but the item had to say
something about who we really were.
        The only limitations were ONLY ONE thing,
and NO persons, computers or electronic gizmos.

I felt a little guilty writing down
        ”a Staples box filled with notepads and pens,”
thinking it was a bit selfish on two levels.
        The first being its utter uselessness for survival
and the second, the suggestion that I’d want to spend my time

stranded on a deserted island somewhere off alone,
        in the shade, with my back against a palm tree,
just writing until help came. My only semi-justification,
        admittedly weak, was that it would be good to have
pen and paper to map out all of our brilliant plans

for escaping the island or being rescued
        using all the much, much more practical items
that everyone else would bring along. But as we went
        around the table and revealed our choices
I didn’t feel that badly. They were:

a basketball
a bag of golf clubs
a pair of running shoes
a pair of hiking boots
a second bag of golf clubs
a soccer ball
a bag of books
a box of notepads and pens
a surfboard
a Bowflex
and
a Brita water filter.

I think the list indicates we’re either
        a very impractical group who should
absolutely never ever be allowed to travel
        en masse where there’s even a miniscule chance
of winding up all stranded together on a deserted island.

or

that it’s just a Friday in summer.