There’s not a grain of truth in what they’ve claimed.
They have cultivated a nonsense, so
much so, the silo has been besmirched, defamed.
It’s been compared to a Balkan State, no
more so will I let this grievance pass
untested, unquestioned; taken as read.
What they have reasoned is simply a farce;
a mischievous lie, it has to be said:
The silo is nothing like a locked vault;
has nothing to do with isolation.
Through misinterpretation comes this fault:
silos are hubs in communication.
. Break not the silo, more strengthen its link.
. It is through the silo that systems think.

© Tim Grace, 18 January 2012

To the reader: The history of grain-silos is interesting. They date back to storage pits in Greece around the 8th Century BC. In a modern sense, they took their vertical stance in the 1800s; significantly, attached to a transport system. Understood as critical components of flow in an agricultural system, their virtual counterparts are much maligned in dysfunctional bureaucracies. An office that stores but does not distribute its information is mistakenly labelled a silo; it does nothing to deserve that label.

To the poet: Mounting a comprehensive argument in fourteen lines is problematic. Without much room for justification the point can be interpreted as a poke. Diatribes tend to be like that; one way polemics. In some ways a static container disconnected from further adaptation – a Balkan State! As much as you might disagree with my defence of the silo; there’s little likelihood of me responding to your rational alternative. You could, of course, leave a comment…

grain of truth