Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
As It Happens

Take this job and shhhhhare your feelings: your #9to5575 Haiku

It was a poetic act of workplace sabotage. Recently, a disgruntled British supermarket baker slipped sarcastic notes about his job into packages of his employer's biscuits -- notes in haiku form. We were inspired by this "Bored Baker" -- which is how the writer referred to himself in his notes -- and asked you to contribute your workplace-related haikus....
CBC Radio ·

It was a poetic act of workplace sabotage. Recently, a disgruntled British supermarket baker slipped sarcastic notes about his job into packages of his employer's biscuits -- notes in haiku form. We were inspired by this "Bored Baker" -- which is how the writer referred to himself in his notes -- and asked you to contribute your workplace-related haikus.

We were overwhelmed by your response -- so we selected some samples of the seventeen-syllable salvos you sent us.

Please rate each one and let us know which is your favourite!

"Life is lonely for
The solo librarian
Thank goodness there's gin."

And here's the three-line lament of a what we hope is a landscaper:

"I pick up the poo
Most of the time it is dry
No one wants my job."

Academics also shared their pithy poems on Twitter.

"Here doing science
Actually just trying
Where is my muzzle?"

And this haiku was sent to us by a teacher -- who studiously refused to count syllables:

"On crooked moons, books soothe
Chinook-wooed selfhoods shook loose
Rookie prof's word doc looms."

Teachers were also expressive via email. Like this note from Montreal:

"Once a vocation
Teaching is now a long path
To my vacation."

So a listener with the initials A.M. tweeted us:

"I do office work
Only thing keeping me here:
Water-cooler talk."

A.C. tweeted:

"Most days are just marked
By the slow passage of time --
Today the clock stopped."

And R.J. was also clock-watching on Twitter:‏

"Working the late shift.
Overtime will go by fast.
I'll be in bed soon."

Not all of you wrote in to complain about your jobs. Listeners also sent us loving tributes to their workplace. Like teacher C.H.:

"Each day I witness
lightbulbs turning on when the
'Aha!' moment hits."

Or this email from John:

"How lucky I am
To earn as much as I do
To make stuff for you."

But most people weren't so upbeat. Here's another tweeted haiku:

"In my buoyant mind
Marketing education
Leads back to the sea."

Or this email:

"You come to me to complain
You cry, you yell
I see your lips move."

And finally:

"In summer I stare
Out of the window, wishing
For work to end."

UPDATE (May 28, 2014): As promised, we have more of your workplace haikus to share. Clearly, our audience is full of frustrated poets.

"Rain out of nowhere
Drabby mood at the office
Is it home time yet?"
"Bus driver I am
Wings and halo I should have
June end none too soon"
"Work is never life
Happiness comes from within
We create our path"

Thanks to everyone who sent us their haikus -- and please also feel free to add your own in the comments section.

More from this episode