Wheelbarrowing

My response to difficult situations or emotional stress is almost always to write poetry, more specifically, song lyrics. For me, it clarifies things to lay things out in verse, differently from the way words are usually structured. You can express things more clearly sometimes when you're not being conversational, but rather artistic and focused on the sound, the meter of words, as well as their meaning.

I was having a conversation today over instant messenger with a good friend of mine, and fellow MVIS shareholder, who really laid out some deep insights into my thinking and mental state, which totally amazed me.

He commented that I was 'freaking out' because the future course and direction of my life, at least financially, was tied totally to the future course and direction of Microvision -- which, for the moment, I don't have the ability to personally influence beyond writing what I think about on a daily basis here on MVIS Blog.

I've always loved the poem 'The Red Wheelbarrow'. 'so much depends upon a red wheelbarrow...' In my case, (and if you were wondering what this poem was doing on MVIS Blog) Microvision is the red wheelbarrow. This company is the vehicle, the mechanism through which I intend to fulfill my dreams in life.

The work of the farm is achieved through the wheelbarrow, moving piles of dirt and feed from place to place, to nurture the plants and animals. We can consider the shareholders of Microvision to be 'the white chickens' for the purposes of this analogy.

For a lot of reasons, shareholders of Microvision are deeply committed, passionate people. We recognize that the world is in a state of constant change, of elevation and repeated paradigm shifts. We know that the world of today will bear little resemblance to the world of ten years from now, insofar as personal technology and man/machine interfaces are concerned. We evaluate all the possible options and arrive at Microvision, whose technology platform enables the most efficient way to deliver digital images to the human visual system. Bar none.

I do not follow what anyone would consider a 'prudent' diversification strategy. All of my money is in shares of Microvision and warrants for the rights to purchase more. At this point, I own (or have the right to own) about 1/500th of the company. Which is actually pretty mind-boggling. I don't have any other assets, beyond my house, and my guitars and studio equipment, and my comic books. 1/500th of Microvision Inc. is what I've got.

And I feel kind of intuitively like a moment of truth is at hand, or is drawing near. Things have been really quiet for a good while. We haven't had much news beyond the eyewear display contract for the Air Force, some new directors and the company's recently announced partnership with a Laser OEM to accelerate delivery of a green laser suitable for the IPM. So I will be very very keen tomorrow to learn about what the company is doing, where we are focusing our efforts, and what kinds of progress we are making commercializing the technology platform.

So as I was reflecting on the instant messenger conversation, 'The Red Wheelbarrow' popped into my mind and I had to read it. I also read Stanley Archer's analysis of the poem, which I think is absolutely dead on. The poem is about the transience of states of being, and the interdependence between things like wheelbarrows, animals (all of us), and nature and the things we can't control. We are interwoven into a tapestry, and it's fluid and takes its shape over time. I think it's really a great poem.

So, a lot depends on the success of Microvision, for me, and thousands of other shareholders around the world. There has been a lot of change. But my bet is that we are being rebuilt into an entity that has the smarts, the will, and the capacity to achieve the goal of becoming an "indispensable source for illuminating information and a profitable enterprise with sustainable double digit growth."

We'll be able to gauge our progress on tomorrow's call. Stay tuned for full MVIS Blog coverage of the 2Q06 Conference Call. And maybe some more poems.