Conference-room woes

I take notes
As didactic bosses
Assail stormy seas in paper boats
Analyse frivolous gains and mighty losses

I doodle
Or play noughts and crosses
Or think of home and my pet poodle
Far away from vexing schedule variances

I half hear
Blame going in circles
Of slack workers and tardy managers
When our deadline hangs like the sword of Damocles

I argue
For some semblance of sense
Icy stares freeze me to a statue
The world, I think, is best viewed through a fisheye-lens

I delight
My mind at sudden ease
So I clear my throat and sit upright
And say aloud, “Can someone pass the wafers, please?”