Trailing 12 Months

As we move into our first year end

I reach out with familiar sights

And draw upon my most reliable friend

The Id who tells me what to write

He asks is it that we find ourselves

At yet another year end feast

Some of us strapped for logics evasive dance

Others with a dearth of quiet retreats

And not to sour any prevailing dreams

This recap is meant to cure our blues

Or interspersed with year end shopping themes

To stimulate nostalgia with an aim to diffuse

Because as long as I've been in the trenches

And scaling markets with keen intervention

I know that each time I flirt with year end

It’s knowing, in a few weeks I can start over again

So using my disciplines dubbed with clever features

But relying mostly on behavioral teachers

I’ll keep presenting my findings to you every week

To inform the experience and to keep it complete

And just so we know that for all its worth

There’s little value in being too immersed

Because they’d have you think investing is a game

But its patience and vigilance that are one and the same

So among the themes behind this year-end message

Is to recap the hurdles that played with our senses

Starting with employment and the challenge finding jobs

Surrounded by good intentions form the usual mobs

Of Analysts and Researchers

Statisticians and Hacks

Some media puppets with snarky attacks

Political aims skewed by agendas

Lobbyist poachers

And affiliate offenders

Oh and let’s not forget the challenge to make sense

Of the epic changes in cultural events

But while most of the world now was inspired

The consumer economy wasn’t exactly retired

Because while digital Advertisers were getting closer

To the digital buyers of first resort

The rest of the world used the social platforms

For advertisements of a different sort

Like the Arab Spring that we thought was all good

Is still kicking the tires and looking under the hood

Wiki Leaks gained fame with one silly name

While North Korea's new leader has a winning smile

Looks just like the guy singing “Gangnam Style”

And I read the Ayatollah likes Facebook

Now what can I say?

That the tweet is “mightier than the sword” today

And maybe Petraeus should try to cash in on his wrong

It works for Taylor who just writes a song

And Bieber and Britney and Kim, what’s her name

Couldn't touch Lady Gaga for attention and fame

And better left out too much razz towards sports

I remember last year’s poetic retorts

The Olympics were nice, gymnastics the best

But can anyone argue the Jet’s are a mess?

And coming into the venerable final stretch

With no clear view of political intent

And while politicians bicker with a comedian’s shtick

Some of us have pondered pushing them off the cliff

So for those of us who think that good times are past

Good times are happening, they’re just moving too fast!

And while much that remained of the year fizzed out

Succumbing to the din that rendered its clout

The pomp of position with endless jawboning

The world didn’t end and is still standing and emoting

Now admittedly those were only some of the themes

While often presented in colorful preen

The year was paved with bumps in the roads

But none to impede a future with hope

And while most of what I write and subsequently share

Is exchanged for this poem in honor of the New Year

Because as most of you know best part of what I do

Is working (and sometime succeeding) in following through

Because building a life with the tools we were taught

Is worth finding success beneath the costs

So once again I look to end the year

With what passes for customary candor

To cover what I've learned and impart an idea

With added rhythmic banter

And while looking forward to a winning time

I thought it right to send a rhyme

And all the best that happiness and heath can bring

Is a far better outcome then hearing me sing!