At the eleventh hour we stop for tea
biscuits – bourbons, custard creams and digestives
birthday cakes for birthday boys and girls we see
abstemious or decadent their choice lives
or dies, pointer to their personality
but cake is cake, no judgement do we give
anything that elevates the office day
is most welcome so we always like to say
a merry office band forged in this routine
so that whatever friction there has been
dissolves in tea, lasting discord seldom seen…
© Andrew Wilson, 2026
Over at dVesre Poets Pub, Laura Bloomsbury in Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft is the mistress of poetic form and today invites us too write either a Hendecastich , a form by Michael Fantina, or the one I have chosen to write to (first rhyming scheme) – The Eleventh Power by Christina Jussaume:
- 11 line poem
- 1 stanza
- 11 syllables per line
- rhyme scheme of abababccddd or ababababccc,
- an uplifting theme
Only in the UK, Andrew, and thank goodness for elevenses – and not just at the office! Do you remember Workers’ Playtime on the wireless? I used to listen to it with my grandmother when I was very small. And Music While You Work!
Yes! It the best way to recharge. Love this, Andrew.