Member Poem

Team leader Renee peered out
of her faux gold  window  around a pulsing Friday noon.
“Almost like we’re puppets of each other down there.
Maybe everywhere?”
Albert, her partner and co-worker were apt to look down on the buzz where their joint venture, their central office, was located.
Quite often hoards of people of all age groups hung out, shrieked with joy, abandon, near the hazy plume cafe.
They were snacking and sharing purchases.
There was rainbow signage to the left of this group promoting all the companies within Renee, and Albert’s brief.
The name of their company was Hereafter Unlimited.
Close and “trustworthy” friends formed this postgraduate 7 person cluster which later evolved into quite a
mind-bogglingly complex concern.
Hair-raising hubs were hatched.
Geniuses one and all created one matrix after another of sequential self-financing companies.
Ideas among them spread like avalanches.
Songs and puns were sung.
They had “flames” or “wildfire” intensity at their fingertips.
They were at the mercy of their own brilliance.

Their aim was to bring  countryside joys into every nook and cranny in  their chosen capital. 
There were bookstores, clubs, restaurants and other outlets named after the multifaceted rustic charms that obsessed them.
Each outlet had a communal dining area to draw in clientele.
The underlying idea behind all these shops, stores, stations
was to have a magnetic pull.
Havens, an escape hatch that would leave an out of this world impression on the visitor.
From energetic background music to kaleidoscopic screens, to elaborately sculpted  tables, mahogany tint chairs, azure blue  halo moon menus, kid zones in high jinx.
Cascade after cascade of hue  swirls in tandem with jubilant  dance trope very much in evidence.
A magic merry go round motif underpinned each inventive hub.
Once savoured, never forgotten.
Festivity a frequent festoon, mouth watering smorgasbord without rein running riot. 
The element of surprise, key and kernel to atmospheres that thrived on visionary continuum.

Brains in this group were graded according to a binary system.
1 winner  0 as in loser.
A hypnotic mantra often -
“Winner, loser, hopeless chooser.”
There were even signs such as a straight finger for 1 or orb like finger sign for loser.
One might wonder aloud if this clique with their uncanny gestures would fit in anywhere else except this setting of their choice.
Hazy plume, rainbow eucalyptus, sylvan zephyr, amber leaf cascade,
lambent shroud, halcyon xanadu, wonder world cocoon,  among the zany names they had thought of.
The staff each had nicknames linked to the above enterprises.
The brainstorming sessions they had had no drama or plot could “match.”
“Often have the  feeling we are pawns to our ideas.”
Amber leaf sighed.
Lambent :
“This place is “dead on”  for the wrong reason.
Smart is always in season.”
Lambent nodding to his “imaginary” sidekick “Shadow”
that seemed glued to his desk.
After all, they were used to that sort of thing as innovative university students.
This unusual alliance though city based had links to different areas.
But nothing would daunt this oddball eccentric clique and their very imaginative and oft bizarre aims.
They were nothing if not colorful.
They had this impressive  office garnished with wallpaper having pictures of their various businesses and the names associated with them.
This franchise had been in existence now for over 5 years.
It was coping to an extent but there was an underlying desire to go beyond that.
A glorified high tek office routine secretly horrified everyone.
Lambent shroud, ICloud expert in the group was perhaps the zaniest of them all.
He had a fetish about hazes  and how the term could be used.
Haze was his buzzword and
of course his very own in the ether mate.
He had a virtual sidekick called “Shadow.”
They used to speak to each other in rhymes.
“Hi there, going nowhere shadow.
I’m really stuck. Yuck!”

The other members of the group would tease Lambent Shroud.
They’d speak in groans n puns too.
You’d sense lambent was a little uncomfortable with it all.
The other members of this amazing group were all tall, had numerous quirks, and spoke with crystal clear clarity.
They stood out even when alone.
Their high IQ, articulacy, and physical presence were obvious requirements for this enterprise.
They were constantly with each other hatching plans.
But Lambent may have had a begrudging “one who leads” complex.

But was the cordiality apparent and only for appearances?
Team leader Renee is Hazy and Albert is Rainbow.
The brain sessions were more often than not impromptu.
Hazy, Halcyon and Amber would seem like cerebral archers the way they bounced informal sessions off each other.
The other pairs, bright spark subgroups would have these on the spot conventions.
“Sparks would fly.
High IQ flashes sky high.
We never ever say die.”
Eerie notion, pie in the sky.”
The smart seven chipping in one by one generating a certain heat.
Even fleeting cabals.
Their brain cliques they nicknamed “Bouncers,”
Or “Pools.”
“Blessing and a boon. Under a shimmering moon. You’ll be lifting trophies soon.”
Lambent the awkward rhymer.
Wonder world had a strained crease on his face.
“Crackpot scheme, halbaked dream, eccentric team.”
In reply.
And so the banter used to go until someone ran out of ripostes.
There were daily meetings also on security updates devised by the team.
But there was much nod and wink, subterfuge.
Amber Leaf the accountant controlled the cash flow, dividends, “watertight insurance,” wages, general outlay.
But one got the impression that there was something afoot.
Amber and sylvan nudged;
“Should we rhyme as we speak or maybe tweak til next week.
Isn’t Lambent leaning a lot on his Shadow.
The  Alter Ego.”
Who is this Shadow to begin with Amber pried?
An umbrella term!

A watchful eye was maintained.
This most unusual group of mental giants were so astute that they crossed checked each others scheduling and tasks.
It all seemed so foolproof.
Turnover was quite considerable and there were really no grounds for complaint at any point.
But despite the  cliques  they could anticipate future trends  which made sense but by the same token was spooky.
Betimes who actually did what with whom had a blurred demarcation.
When you have such active brain cells, another pseudonym for the  catalyst co-op you might be forgiven for thinking at times it might seem monotonous.
“ Heck!  What kind of  service is this?
Fly in my soup. And that fish is off! And that’s not all.”
Sylvan Zephyr the ambassador was entrusted to diffuse awkward clients.
Shrieking and clamoring, heated exchanges over the phone  subside after a protracted row.
One wonders why
Lambent Shroud had this uncanny smirk and one wonders at this stage why?
The wiles of his smiles were like a form of contagion in the region.
A comic contagion if you will was never far from the surface.
“I’ve just had this idea. We could have a different decor.
Like stick on flourishes.”
Halcyon Xanadu peeped.
Once again there’ we’re nods, some almost quasi-religious.
This may seem strange.
Another shuffle, cabal.

Lambent Shroud when not spinning joke shop rhymes, chatting with his shadow might suddenly burst into paroxysms of disdain.
Despite the cerebral nature of this undertaking each member of this esoteric business cult had their finger firmly on the economic pulse, the till.
“I keep checking my apps as  asked though I leave  the cash flow in reality to Amber.”
Hazy plume, who had the unenviable task of being the all-seeing-eye supervisor, and to keep the ideas surfacing from drifting into vermillion clouds.
“That’s good. Mightn’t be such a bad idea if we made a few spot checks on our hubs.”
Albert, alias Rainbow chimed.

Creativity was this seamless mesh.
But with all the paraphernalia at each desk perhaps sight was  being lost of the original concept.
Maybe this might explain the  present fractious undercurrent, stilted atmosphere that appeared to dwell within this epicentre.
“YAWN YAWN YAWNS.
WE USED TO DREAM MINT LAWNS.”
A vocal scat from Lambent or the uncanny “Shadow.”
Now and then at any rate.
“Muffled squeaks, awh, so sad,
yikes, bah, too bad.”
The rub, the nub, the hub.
Sometimes the puns were flaccid where they once had flare.

After 5 years the wide-eyed optimism of wanting to bring the green utopia to the steel and concrete jungle of modern city life had somehow peaked, or maybe approaching it.
This wasn’t always obvious, however.
“THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.
HOLY SQUAWKING CROWS.”
Halcyon Xandu.
“I just got a text from one of our hubs. One of the hub  computers crashed and there was even some steam generated.
Volume of loud  noises reported but calm was restored.”

Suddenly everybody awakened from their stupor despite the seeming hive of activity.
“As far as I can gather the crash was cleared fairly quickly.”
Xanadu again.
Tho a creeping suspicion crossed her face.
Everyone rushed towards a center spot  on the floor.
A buzz quite unusual swept across the tight nuclear pulse clique.
There was always a certain surge about this place even during a lull.
All this very macabre in a mild sense conduct might seem like a scheme being cobbled together.
By someone but who knows what that someone is if a someone at all might be.
A prevailing milieu that was taut, tense, tho teasingly trivial constantly at tangents.

“Utter breathless oath,
unearthly surreal cache,
burst  of universal apogee indelibly trumpets,
exalted plot as moonbeam  stepping stone,
Mecca to a hue-laden vortex,
that sequesters sun-drenched harbors, gurgling stream meanders, moss-fleck tides,
mesmerizing shroud of lambent bayou,
hazy plume on silver waterfall,
scarab mountain chain at sapphire dawn.”
Sylvan Zephyr throwing down the gauntlet and eschewing his tentative  role as tactful go-between.
You’ll have noticed the no corresponding taper of sounds known as rhyme.

A sleight of hand from the scheme team within the dream team was at play.
The following day wonder world cocoon did a whirlwind inspection of the various hubs.
Not best pleased.
It looked as if all the hubs were splitting up into subhubs.
The staff were being secretive in all the business operations.
Even certain ideas from headquarters which hadn’t been released yet.
Wonder world spotted rough outlines of change from the  corner of her eye relating to the above tract.
Ominous thoughts lurking.
She began to detect a pattern.
“Holy charging elephants.
I smell a rat.
That’s that. Everybody get out of here.
is that clear?”
The complex jewel sensor super sensitive alarm system which had been added to by each member rang out.
Mysteriously each member incognito ( sometimes) installed extra  features.
Ashen volcanic smoke left little to the imagination.
The 7 member cluster eschewedsafety protocol.
But somehow managed to escape against an anarchic, chaotic backdrop that surged at breakneck speed.
“What about our valuables, valuables?
Or are they “EXPENDABLES.”
Diplomatic Sylvan Zephyr  not so diplomatic.

This incendiary incident shook the other hubs, the people in them and the surrounding area.
The thunderstruck brain camp, most of them gazed incredulously at what was unfolding.
A  sky tower inferno of cinder spewing incidents,  boom laden choirs with  puns, warnings, alerts, rhymes, ones and zeros,
volcanic cackles, surreal demolition, and on the spot disintegrated havoc never seen before.
It ended in a gradual stepwise motion before collapsing into a gradual “Black Shadow Plume.”
This plume decided to hover over
a “Smirk” like structure redolent of “Someone.”
In many ways what was left of their business center looked like
the nirvana they as a group were trying to fuse with urban vim.
Renee nudged Albert who squinted at the corner of his eye.
They both spotted “Lambent Shroud” with a retinue that included other hub members, heading towards a country signpost!!!!
At least he was in that coveted  dream lead role.
Renee opined.  “I hear Lambent whispering to himself about missing something .. ..no longer a puppet?  and the sidekick?”
Albert now clued in on this  earth shattering denouement that  engulfs layer upon eternal  layer of tiered narrative.
Renee, Albert, Amber Leaf the reliable and infinitely shrewd person on money flow now swop knowing glances and scrutinise what is left of a once ornate “Landmark” project.
“Where do we all go from here I wonder?
But should we actually be asking that question at all?
We shouldn’t  have the nerve or gall!”
Albert reflected with a “Stick On Smirk.”
As the local fire brigade arrives a “Haze”  of a more “endowed” kind descends on Renee, Albert, Amber.
1’s and 0’s of a massive kind beckon!!!
And a nearby shop’s cash register tolls triumphant.
Three straight fingers now in sync!!!!!