Inside Out

Bletchley Park : citadel of cryptography,
crib of computing,
saved the Allies from Hitler
and kept an eye on the Soviets … for years afterwards.

Enigma? It was,
until Alan Turing cracked it –
“how?”– was question from the floor.
The old man leaned forward,
he had been Turing’s chess partner
and colleague – years before.
“ Nazi bombast …..
self conviction made them careless –
Enigma was watertight – the operators weren’t.”

Dave, hearty and big voiced,
reassuringly rumpled,
disobedient hair
and
auditioning waistline.
Always full of bonhomie. And always wondering,
about
my perceptions of colleagues and work,
casting bait –
“…… Dennis thinks his shit doesn’t stink
……. .the artificial pollination project is a waste of time. ”

And asking questions that weren’t,
but GPS soundings
of where I went …. and who I saw – after hours.
Stirring the waters,
–                             to see where the fish was
–                               what direction it might go
–                                  and the places it had been.

The corporate double agent –
I often wondered to whom he was reporting.
He couldn’t have been very good ….
an eager to please
and unworldly 22-year-old cracked him. Bombast.