#PoetryTakeMeAway

Writing a CV

"What is necessary?
It is necessary to write an application,
and attach the CV to the application.
Regardless of how much one has lived,
it is good for the CV to be brief.
Conciseness and selection of facts are mandatory.
Change landscapes into addresses
and uncertain memories into fixed dates.
Of all loves, only the marital one counts,
and of the children, only those that were born.
It matters more who knows you than who you know.
Travel only if abroad.
Belonging to something, but without a why.
Honors without reason.
Write as if you never talked to yourself
and were avoiding yourself.
Skip over dogs, cats, and birds,
trinkets of the past, friends, and dreams.
Better price than value
and title than content.
Better the shoe size than where
the one you are mistaken for is going.
Add a photo with your ear in view.
It’s the shape that matters, not what it hears.
What does one hear?
The clatter of machines shredding paper."

W. Szymborska