Come gather round, good townsfolk all,
And hear the latest civic call,
Where Boards convene with solemn face
To occupy their proper place.
They meet, you see, but not too much,
For governance requires a touch
Of careful separation made
‘Twixt things discussed and things delayed.
The formal meeting now begins,
With minutes, reports and earnest grins,
The public speaks, the groups report,
The planners offer every sort
Of update, strategy and plan –
Then everyone applauds if they can.
“Any decisions?” someone cries.
“Good heavens no!” the Chair replies.
“We’ve scarcely time for such a thing,
We’ve heard what every group’s been doing.”
The meeting closes, papers stacked,
The official business neatly packed,
Then comes the truly curious part –
The discussions that were meant to start.
“Now let us talk,” the Chair declares,
“Of all the matters and affairs
Not on the agenda, not prepared,
Not formally noticed, not quite shared.”
And so they talk with great delight
Into the softly fading night,
About the matters most important –
Though none may be officially current.
Next month they gather once again,
Without the burden, stress or pain
Of minutes, motions, votes or rules,
For such things are for formal fools.
The Chair prepares the grand agenda,
A masterpiece of local splendour,
And everyone may freely chat
About this, that and whatnot-that.
“What shall we decide?” asks eager Fred.
“Nothing at all,” the Chair has said.
“For this is not a meeting where
Decisions breathe the public air.”
“But why discuss?”
“To stay informed.”
“But why be informed?”
“To be well warmed
For meetings where we’ll hear reports
And practise all the formal sports.”
The audience sits in growing doubt,
Trying hard to work it out.
The talking happens where none decide,
The decisions wait off to the side.
The records stop where matters start,
And governance becomes an art.
An art, perhaps, of smoke and mist,
Where every point somehow is missed,
And every pathway neatly bends
To nowhere very much in the end.
So raise a cheer for this Accord,
This curious civic drawing-board,
Where Boards may meet and Boards may speak,
Yet governing remains unique.
For never has bureaucracy
Produced with greater subtlety
A system quite so neatly planned
To keep authority unmanned.
The Emperor himself, were he
To witness such ingenuity,
Might proudly say, with knowing glance,
A government without governing,
At last; how enhanced!
