Corpoetry

By Rohini Sunderam

Corporate life is sometimes hard sometimes easy - sometimes fraught with danger and sometimes a laugh a minute... Here are some poems and illustrations inspired by corporate life...

*15 Minute Break *

They were once out in the passageway
Now they’re out on the street
In all kinds of weather
Enduring cold and heat
It’s like they have run away
But didn’t get far
They need to be here
For the semblance
Of a conference
For the gossip and the news
Discuss the day’s strategy
And sometimes new shoes
But mostly they’re here
(and the truth really sticks)
Because they are slaves to
Their nicotine fix.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rohini Sunderam
• Release date: Dec 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781909133617

Rohini Sunderam

Rohini Sunderam is a Canadian of Indian origin. After many years as an ex-pat living and working in the Kingdom of Bahrain, she now calls Port Coquitlam near Vancouver, Canada her home. While in Bahrain, for several years Rohini managed The Bahrain Writers' Circle, and Second Circle poetry group, and hosted a large number of poetry events. A semi-retired advertising copywriter, she has published four books: Corpoetry, Desert Flower: Five Lives One Day in Bahrain, (all previously published by Ex-L-Ence Publishing) and Twelve Roses for Love, a collection of short stories. Her poems have appeared in Dilliwali (Publisher Busra Alvi Razzak), Quesadilla & Other Adventures (2019), The Society of Classical Poets’ Journals VII & VIII. A short story was shortlisted in The Atlantis Short Story Contest (2013) published by Expanded Horizons, (2018). A CNF entry and Flash Fiction story were long-listed in separate WOW Women on Writing contests, Winner: Oapschat, U.K 2014. Her latest success is a short story published by The Missouri Review Fall 2022 issue (digital, print and audio).E: [e-mail] Twitter/ X: @Corpoetry Facebook: RohiniSunderamAuthor Instagram: rohinisunderam

Book preview

Corporate laughter

Corporate laughter

(With thanks to Matt D)

When sounds of corporate laughter

Echo clear across the room

With little subtle highlights

Of ‘on-the-board’ behind the boom

Normally slouched backs

Look upright and so busy

And ‘purpose’ dogs each footstep

Even those with minds astray

While the chairman of the company

Stifles signs of sharp intuition

And lets those other little signs pass by

At least, just for today.

Whiz Kid

Whiz Kid

He should have been at the interview

Or so he later said

Hints and rumours claimed that he

Had spent the day in bed.

Officially, however

He had been at a meeting

Far away, on that day

A meeting truly fleeting.

Another day he’d left

All his files behind

And with them he’d forgotten

The main thrust of his presentation.

So he ad-libbed his way through

Added jokes and how-de-do’s.

The prospect bought the plan.

That was a foregone conclusion.

He thought he was the company’s

Biggest whiz-guy on the block.

He smiled, beguiled by his own