The Great Poppyseed Experiment

Posted on February 19, 2023 by purplepeninportland 
Written for:  Friday Writings #64 - Life is Strange (and often
              sneakier) Than Fiction

"I invite us to write poetry or prose inspired by the following 
Neil Gaiman quote: 
“Life is always going to be stranger than fiction, because fiction has to be convincing, and life doesn’t.”


We called it
The Great Poppyseed
Experiment.  Wall Street.
Psychotic Human Resources
Director, previously
salesman, now burnout. 
Of course the logical
next position for him
was Director.  Smug,
with a superior air,
he hired MBAs from
only two schools.  Tossed
the resumes of all others.
Two new hopefuls had failed
their drug test, claiming
it was due to eating poppyseed
muffins.  Director wanted
them hired.  An elaborate
experiment, wherein boxes
of poppyseed muffins were
shipped in, took place.
We were the guinea pigs 
who ate them.  No conclusion 
was drawn.  Director kept
new MBAs; they were from
the right schools.

https://poetsandstorytellersunited.blogspot.com/

About purplepeninportland

I am a freelance poet, born and bred in Brooklyn, New York. I live with my husband, John, and two charming rescue dogs–Marion Miller and Murphy. We spent eight lovely years in Portland, OR, but are now back in New York. My goal is to create and share poetry with others who write, or simply enjoy reading poetry. I hope to touch a nerve in you, and feel your sparks as well.
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8 Responses to The Great Poppyseed Experiment

  1. Rosemary Nissen-Wade says:
    February 19, 2023 at 5:00 am

    That little episode is definitely stranger than fiction and bordering on unbelievable! Maybe you meant the excuse was unconvincing — but so is the fact of going through such a rigmarole to test it.

    Like

  2. Misky says:
    February 19, 2023 at 9:05 am

    It’s not as unbelievable as it seems. You needn’t read the entire document, just the first paragraph that summarises the study.

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36181466/

    Like

  3. Penelope Notes says:
    February 19, 2023 at 5:24 pm

    No conclusions but, wow, who would have thought poppy seed muffins had a dark side.

    Like

  4. Rajani Radhakrishnan says:
    February 25, 2023 at 2:08 am

    Sounds really wild… amazing to what lengths people will go to have their way.

    Like

Comments are closed.