At the Office

Written by

In the early morning
Choreographed pandemonium
     Colours the view up Victoria Avenue

Bikes whizzing by
A man belts his favourite tunes
     Like the city is his stage
Pedestrians play chicken with cars
     Morning coffee and a sandwich in arms

Jackhammers humming
Drivers on and off their horns
     Breaking my concentration

Sunshine glinting
     From the mirrored building
Blasting through the window
     Disabling my display

Me and the boss converse
     On the status of the blinds
     The temperature of the room
     What we're going to eat in the afternoon

And in the evening
     When to-dos are done for the day
     When the rat race has gone away
     When the sun's getting ready for bed
     And the TTC ride home I dread

I take one last glean
The scene is serene
Flushed of caffeine

Victoria Avenue
What a view

Image by Marek from Pixabay
© 2025 Samantha Williams. All Rights Reserved.

Poetics: A View of One’s Own

Thank you, Dora. Enjoy your time away! Thank you, dVerse Team!

Comments

9 responses to “At the Office”

June 13, 2025

Rosemary Nissen-Wade

You remind me it’s possible to be fond of cities! When one lives in them, anyway. I got very fond of the city of Melbourne when I lived there during my early and middle adult years. However am glad to have returned now to the kind of scenic small-town, semi-rural life I grew up in, albeit a different town.

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1. June 13, 2025
  
  Sam
  
  A semi-rural small town sounds lovely. I like the city for its conveniences. Whenever I travel to small towns around Ontario, I can envision myself living there (once I don’t have to commute to the city every day).
  
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June 12, 2025

Ren

New York Chinatown? … nice photo. and i actually felt like i was there– in your poem. nicely done!

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1. June 13, 2025
  
  Sam
  
  Thank you! I’m glad you felt it! 🙂
  
  I’m not sure where it is. I picked the photo because the vantage point is the same and similar to what I see. I had taken a great photo when we first moved in but couldn’t find it and i wasn’t in the office this week.
  
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June 12, 2025

kim881

That is some view, Sam! And I’m amazed that you fitted so much of it in your poem. I love the phrase ‘choreographed pandemonium’ and the flash of ‘sunshine glinting from the mirrored building’.

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1. June 13, 2025
  
  Sam
  
  Thank you! 🙂
  
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  1. June 13, 2025
    
    kim881
    
    My pleasure!
    
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June 12, 2025

Dora

What a view indeed, and how your poem hums with the image-strung chords of it, taking us through the day with its music, as it were, in the background, the light, the “choreographed pandemonium”! The final look resonates, wedding feeling and sight, beauty appreciated, a serenity enjoyed “flushed of caffeine” — A masterfully composed poem, Sam. I thoroughly enjoyed it. (And thank you for the good wishes on my break).

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1. June 13, 2025
  
  Sam
  
  Thank you! 😊
  
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