“To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”
- Nike Mission Statement

My mission is to be a unique driving experience.
My mission is to be putty in your hands.
My mission is to be your favorite pair of jeans.
My mission is to whisper in your ear in
Several pre-selected Romance languages. To star
In a movie that takes Sundance by storm.
(I hope Penelope Cruz will be in it
Even though she will contractually throw pans
Of ink on my head and shoot me colorfully
With a sleepy pistol and make her lips do that
Pouty thing upon which we can hang
The Collected Works of Henry James.)
Which reminds me. My mission is
to rewrite the dull parts of the Kama Sutra.
Because, listen, people! What’s a man without a dream?
I say he’s calamari soup. I say he’s a man without
A mission statement. This is why my mission
Is to be a global partner and a preferred
Provider. to serve nutritious food to
A hungry world. To leave it all on the field,
To go hard when coach calls my number.
My mission is to write one thing you must
Slip under your pillow. My mission is:
Be the pillow. My mission is: Be the night.
My mission is to bring inspiration and innovation
To every recluse in town, to every jaw-dropping
Wearer of a white mini, to every captain of
A space station, to every radio listener too shy
To call in, to even the stranger who left a nice note
On my windshield that time. To you, in especial.
My mission is to be in business for eternity.

……………

Joseph Di Prisco. Zyzzyva. Vol. XXVII, No. 3, Winter 2011.