While yes, I have a résumé
It does no justice describing mé

So I'll leave this here for all to see
All I ask is please hire me

I'm great with sales
and communication
I can create tales
with no hesitation

Been fixing PCs since '99
Right after I broke all of mine

I don't do drugs
I don't cause fights
I won't give shrugs
to new insights

I can Photoshop best selling ads
and tell corny jokes just like most dads

I write HTML
and CSS
I can kinda spell
At least try my best

Started my first business in 5th grade
Profiting from the paper airplane trade

I'm a fast learner,
a problem solver,
a trust earner,
an idea causer,
a spreadsheet slayer,
a real team player

While I'm no photography guru
I've actually had a paid gig or two

Dove into video editing
way back when MySpace was a thing

Oh yeah. Plus I'm proficient with Microsoft Office.

Key after key, letters clamor onto my screen
In valiant effort to create that never before seen
Braces and brackets, colons semi or not
It's taking some time, patience and thought

A picture, painted by ten thousand letters
Divinely presented with wonderful CSS headers
And more, this picture will be able to do
For its features will be far from few

Talk to another, quickly and fast
Chat in groups, to make relationships last
Co-authoring easier with dynamic group editing...?
Assuming it all works, I'm still hoping and betting!

Wave after wave, this beach will come together
I'll be darned if I have to say never
The sun will rise, and so too a poet
Where they'll certainly smile, I just know it!

This digital sea by which I float,
a long voyage that awaits this boat
One where I will design the pristine shore
Bringing poet passengers, more and more

Have you ever noticed our desire to create?
To produce, develop, and fabricate,
To compose, to invent, to design
To construct, develop and refine…

It might be a painting, a poem, a book,
Perhaps a new dish that you’ve chosen to cook.
It could be a carving, a fine piece of wood,
Or a report that you’ve worked on as hard as you could.

Maybe some music, the melody for a song,
Some fine catchy lyrics that’ll have folks singing along.
It might be treading the boards in a serious play
Or teasing a delicate shape out of clay.

It could be mechanical, delving in deep grease and grime
Fine-tuning machines until they’re running just fine
Perhaps you love knitting, or perhaps cutting hair
Designing new blueprints or new dresses to wear.

Maybe you could happily while away hours
Choosing and arranging freshly cut flowers.
You might love DIY or you just love to dance,
You’d have joined the ballet if you’d had the chance

Or you thrive in the garden, planting and mowing
Surveying all the wonderful things which are growing.
Perhaps you love to draw, to sketch, or to cover –
Pristine white canvases in swathes of rich colour.

Maybe jewellery is more your thing,
Fashioning a necklace, a bracelet, a ring,
You might program websites, you know html
And CSS, ruby, and java as well.

Or possibly you prefer a needle and thread
Or maybe a set of great tools instead.
You might be a planner who loves to organise
Picnics or outings or a Birthday surprise!

Your creativity will be manifest in all kinds of ways
It might not dazzle, astound or amaze
But it will bring you enjoyment, well-being and pleasure
A sense of contentment, a delight you can treasure.
To take the time, unleash your need to build
And reap the rewards of the joy it can yield.

Stephen Lea, a seeker on his path,
With HTML and CSS, Javscript, he crafted his craft,
Along the way, he saw signs so clear,
Messages of content that he held dear.

He saw the beauty in every line of code,
The interconnectedness, the harmony bestowed,
He saw the nouns and verbs, the syntax and structure,
And found in them a deeper meaning to capture.

The signs he saw were more than just words,
They were messages from the universe, like birds,
Guiding him towards his true destiny,
Encouraging him to keep pushing with tenacity.

He saw the parallels between code and life,
The discipline, the innovation, the strife,
The way a project management plan,
Could shape the future, the way he can.

For Stephen Lea, the signs were more than just signs,
They were a reflection of the world's designs,
A message of hope, of wonder, of awe,
That the universe has a path for us all.

And as he journeyed down his path,
He found that mastering front-end was just a start,
For the signs he saw showed him something greater,
A way to create, to innovate, to shape the future using web designs.

The archaic symbols of the dream
appear nightly stained on some
gigantic scrim.  There’s a battle
going on in one corner, a damsel
is at stake of course; her favors
his reward.  Somewhere else is a
monkey holding a tin cup and
pant-hooting at passers by.
There will be some trouble if he
doesn’t get his pennies.  More
I suppose if he does.

A man and a woman face each other;
she prepares bandages for his war.
The problem is she can’t reach the
victims he piles up.

Birds fly, horses fly, lizards slither
out of holes each with pieces of’
paper fluttering from their mouths.
The paper disappears leaving only
sockets without sound.

The dream is incomplete without the man,
standing still in the middle, his spear
pointed up.  He cannot move
and the tears on his face
are children.



11/11/80


CSS publications 2nd place winner 8/84  $25.00