Development Set

I just thought this poem hit at the heart of it all with what I was going in preparing for Cameroon. Enjoy!

Excuse me, friends, I must catch my jet
I'm off to join the development set;
My bags are packed, and I've had all my shots,
I have travellers' cheques and pills for the trots.

The development set is bright and noble.
Our thoughts are deep and our vision global;
Although we move with the better classes
Our thought are always with the masses.

In Sheraton hotels in scattered nations
we damn multinational corporations;
Injustice seems so easy to protest.
In such seething hotbeds of social rest.

We discuss multi-nutrition over steaks
And plan hunger talks during coffee breaks
wheter Asian floods or African drought
we face each issue with an open mouth.

We bring in consultants whose circumlocation
Raises different for every solution.
Thus guaranteeing continued good eating
By showing the need for another meeting.

The language of the Development Set
Stretches the English alphabet.
We use swell words like 'epigenetic'
'Micro', 'Macro' and 'logarithmetic.'

Development Set homes are extremely chic,
Full of carving, curios, and draped with batik
Eye-level photographs subtly assure
That your host is at home with the rich and the poor.

Enough of these verses-on with the mission!
Our task is as broad as the human condition
Just pray to God the biblical promise is true.
The poor ye shall always have with you.

Ross Coggins