Poem a day for 10 April 2014: On the use of abstract concepts in brand taglines

In May 2013 the University of Adelaide launched its new brand positioning tagline 'Seek light', '…drawing on the theme of light and the search for new knowledge…'. It ties in with the University's motto Sub Cruce Lumen (Light under the [Southern] Cross).

Today's poem combines this idea with a story about two young girls who suffer from a condition called Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) – an extreme sensitivity to UV rays from sunlight.


On the use of abstract concepts in brand taglines

The tagline is curt, direct; instructs us to 'Seek light'
clipped words tip their type to the Southern Cross
concept fits well in the agency brief.

As I head to the Hub for a coffee
I see all the eager light-seekers
and I wonder how the nocturnal feel
in the glare of this dazzling metaphor:
does it throw their circadian rhythms?

And the directive would be fatal
for the two sisters who must hide from light
because UV rays damage their DNA
and their systems cannot repair it,
so by day they stay in their darkened, candle-lit house
and at night they play and picnic under the stars.

I return and buckle down in my tunnel
watching, hoping, for light at the end.

Posted by Jennifer Liston