PAgent’s Progress

Spots of sunlight dance on the sidewalk
shining through leaves animated by the wind
as it is funneled between the buildings.

An orange construction sign
nodding like an old man on its spring
warns of construction on the right

The back of the sign is more ambiguous
a dangling patch with a single word
ominously warns ‘LEFT’.

A concrete saw screams in the intersection
making conversation impossible
the sidewalk is closed, please cross.

Young women delivering lunches
are made beautiful by the sunlight
as they push their cart across the street.

I got a piece of spam today at work. It got past the filter, and then got past my personal filter because it had my name in the subject line. The first two lines of the email were:

{PAgent}, could you advise if we could circle briefly in the next few days?
I wanted to briefly introduce myself and some specific ideas I had to help in your goal of increasing sales at {PAgent’s employer}.

Could we ‘circle briefly in the next few days’? I admit, my first mental image was that of a direct-marketing shark, circling my floundering body, coming ever closer with its shiny, shiny teeth. Once I shook that off, I began to wonder if this is an expression that other people are actually using.

Am I out of the loop? Is this part of the next generation of business-speak? Are the rest of you out there circling each other instead of ‘doing lunch’, or having a ‘power breakfast’?