Poem: Miscellaneous

Author:
Li-Jen Hew
Updated:
May 6, 2018 10:21 AM EDT

Miscellaneous

You guide me through,

At the same time, leave no clue,

Your comfort makes me fearless,

But too much courage makes me careless,

I don't know where to place you.

You stand on your own,

Somehow you attract different crowds,

Stubbornly, this is your style,

Never have to travel miles,

And go from town to town.

Your expert fickleness makes me tickled,

Your change of mind when you try to be kind,

It's you that knows how to multitask,

Your fastness leaves me breathless,

Thus, I become a nuisance.

Understanding The Poem...

My inspiration comes from knowing the Miscellaneous category. If you're given the task of categorising items, you might find that Miscellanous category isn't always helpful.

You guide me through,
At the same time, leave no clue,
Your comfort makes me fearless,
But too much courage makes me careless,
I don't know where to place you.

Being tempted to just throw unknown items into the Miscellaneous category shows incompetence and overconfidence although the Miscellaneous category is generic.

You stand on your own,
Somehow you attract different crowds,
Stubbornly, this is your style,
Never have to travel miles,
And go from town to town.

Miscellaneous actually means "items or people gathered or considered together that are of various types or from different sources" but the category is on its own.

Your expert fickleness makes me tickled,
Your change of mind when you try to be kind,
It's you that knows how to multitask,
Your fastness leaves me breathless,
Thus, I become a nuisance.

It could happen that you thought it's alright to use the Miscellaneous category freely to hold some items but then it crossed your mind that another category is suitable. You are cheated by the flexibility of Miscellaneous.

You are my savior when I run out of time,
You are really good at disguise,
And dare to look me in the eye,
Such a liar you are,
Don't get me fired.

Miscellaneous represents lots of things but these things are actually inside the Miscellaneous category. What I mean is that the category itself is generic and does not represent one type of item which is why it is a lie or wrong to say that Miscellaneous composes of only one type.