Category: poem

KNOWING THEY ARE NEEDED

Organizers can go to bed early,

and wake up refreshed.

Fire tenders, blind to time, tend to stay up
all night, crafting, restless.

That is not their fault – it is just their way.

Organizers, because they see
only one way of doing their thing,
are very focused, and work together
like bees, in the bustle of day,

when the sun is high. It takes a lot of them

to get their work of organizing done. They organize
themselves into shapes. This is why
they are called organizers. On the other hand,
only a few fire tenders (who tend to scheme and craft,

in the calm of night, by the crackle of the fire)

are needed to keep the lions at bay
while the organizers sleep.
Fire tenders tend to see
a million ways to do one thing.

That is not their fault – it is just their way.

They scheme and craft, in the calm
of night, by the crackle of the fire,
and tend to dream, blind to time,
of ways to be helpful when it comes:

the time that they know they are needed.

Because there are more of them,
and because they’re so good at organizing
themselves and working together,
within their shapes,

in the bustle of day, when the sun is high,

organizers tend to believe it
when they think that their ways are best.
That is not their fault – it is just their way.
Tradition helps to keep them

focused and working together, within their shapes.

Because they are so adept
at doing one thing, the organizers
are not so good at noticing
when the way they are doing

their thing is wasting their energy.

That is not their fault – it is just their way.
Fire tenders sometimes try to share
the strategies they conceive, while scheming
and crafting, in the calm of night,

by the crackle of the fire, with the organizers,

who are not so good at knowing
what they need, or needing. The fire tenders
have become accustomed to hearing,
“that’s cute,” and “you’re overthinking it.”

Organizers can be kind of judgy.

That is not their fault – it is just their way.
Judging helps them navigate
the bustle of day, when the sun is high.
Fire tenders tend to feel a little

hurt by this, but they love the organizers,

and want to please them. That is why
they are called tenders. Because
they can only scheme and craft
in the calm of night, by the crackle of the fire,

and because they love the organizers,

and want to please them, and because
they are good at noticing when the organizers’
ways of doing their thing are wasting
their energy, and because they are good at

knowing what the organizers need, and because,

when they try to reveal the results of their schemes
and crafts in the bustle of day,
when the sun is high, they are told
“you didn’t cite your sources,” and “I love

the way your mind works,” the fire tenders

will sometimes craft maps, that show
the way to a new way of doing the thing
that the organizers are wasting energy on,
within their shapes. They know

when they are needed, and leave the maps

where the organizers will find them
when they wake up refreshed
in the bustle of day, when the sun is high.
The organizers, finding the maps

that the fire tenders made in the calm of night,

by the crackle of the fire, suddenly
see a new way of doing their thing,
within their shapes, without wasting energy.
When conditions are right, they don’t fail

to adopt the new strategy, and claim it

as their own. They are not stealing
or being vain: that is just how organizers
work. The fire tenders tend to be
untroubled by this. Blind to time, they know

when they are needed. They love the organizers,

and want to please them. That is not
their fault – it is just their way.
Because they have been so often told,
“you’re wrong,” and “just relax and be yourself”

by the organizers, the fire tenders tend

to carry around a lot of shame.
Because they are organized, the organizers
believe it when they think that
the fire tenders carry shame because

they are not able to organize themselves into shapes,

like the organizers. Though that is not
the case, sometimes the fire tenders
begin to believe it themselves. They tend
to love the organizers, and want to please them.

That is not their fault – it is just their way.

What happens when the shame
the fire tenders carry around compels them
to adopt the ways of the organizers,
whom they love and want to please,

and organize themselves into shapes,

in the bustle of day, when the sun is high,
and go to bed early, and wake up refreshed?
Who will think of a million ways to do one thing?
Who will scheme and craft maps

when they are needed, in the calm of night,

by the crackle of the fire, to point the organizers
to a new way of doing their thing without
wasting energy, within their shapes?
Who, blind to time, will know

when they are needed? Who will keep the lions at bay?

– Ryk Groetchen May 26, 2025

MAY ALL BEINGS REALIZE THEIR TRUE NATURE
EVERY DAY IS NEURODIVERSITY AWARENESS DAY