Naporimo day twelve: Greetings from the Cliche Liberation Front!

Thinking outside the box entails
first thinking inside the box,
which requires a box,
which means finding, inheriting, or hunting down,
capturing, domesticating, and ultimately
inhabiting your own special box.
Congratulations on your box!

The great unboxed, however, must cobble
together from scratch, from the streets,
from scraps, that is, from available materials
their own original self-made box.
Call it Independent Study.
The shape of the box might be a bit
irregular, nonstandard, or unaccredited,

So the untrained, unchurched, uninitiated
members of no fraternity, sorority, or order,
no priesthood, profession, or secret society
must create or concoct their own theology,
user guide, loyalty oath, pledge of allegiance,
mission statement, credo, or code of conduct.
Necessity really is the mother of invention.

The educated, by virtue of their access
to the body of knowledge
(hint: it comes in a box)
are thereby anointed, credentialed, degreed,
confirmed, ensconced,and ordained
as members of the club,
as decreed by the gatekeeper.

Then comes the fun part: the lucky few
secure in boxes with benefits attached
have the whole curriculum to overcome.
Whether they join the true believers
or take their box with a grain of salt,
they can learn to play the game,
play hard, play fair, play to win.

Getting better at anything involves,
like chicken and egg,
learning the rules,
respecting the tools,
acquiring the skills, the grammar and usage,
the language of the craft,
if only to know what to throw away.