Fear and Tremlin . . .

Quiet as the Buddha,
Silent as the grave,
Yet mischievous to the core,
As a dork noted of this knave!

Humility adorns him,
Like a bad hair day,
Canon of Eerdmans Publishing,
Where will his feet now stray?

His wit often hid under a bush,
For better or for worst?
Until the bastion of blurbs,
Would break out into verse!

His eye suspiciously tilted,
Toward a twisted fantasy,
A salesman imagined in speedo,
A horror none should ever fancy!!!

Often channeling his darker side,
In Olympian feats of feet,
Through exercise and lipo,
He remains among the svelte elite.

Eons of descriptive copy,
Made Todd pine for something regal,
Yet pink did his countenance shine,
In delivering Robert Siegal!

Superb! Unique? And, Groundbreaking!
His descriptive skills evocative.
A light under recognized among pee-ons!
Can wax eloquent and provocative!

How many professors will sigh relief?
Alas, so much fear and trembling,
From letters and emails requesting a word,
Postmarked and signed by Tremlin!
_________________________

This is another work poem, that won't make much sense to you if you didn't work at Eerdmans when a now Professor, Todd Tremlin worked there. He wrote copy and solicited endorsements (aka: blurbs) from authors for books and catalogs. He was very quiet in meetings...usually in deep and quiet tones would speak to usher a zinger. He also had a mean sense of humor that included teasing one editor for a self-effacing comment (he had called himself a "dork")...and tried to embarrass me when I was still in sales by trying to make others imagine what a guy like me would look like in a "Speedo"...I shiver still at that comic conversation. He was somewhat obsessed with fitness...He often used flash words like "groundbreaking" in his catalog copy. The piece de resistance came when he turned in a blurb he thought was from Robert Siegel of NPR...it turned out to be from a poet/friend of Luci Shaw. He had to write an apology to Robert Siegal...which was one of his most embarrassing moments. Anyhow...I ran across it in my archives...thought I'd post it to be silly.