A Poem for Mr. Sketch

This post is for anyone who has ever fallen in love with a particular office supply, only to come to work one day to find your beloved office supply has gone missing because someone else apparently loved that office supply, too.

Folks have gathered

From near and from far

Taking their seats…

And there you are

Lying still

Atop the tables

An array of colors

White lettered labels

“Mr. Sketch” someone mutters

Removing your top

Writing a name tag

In the middle he stops

He sniffs

Yes, there’s definitely a hint

Could it be? Could it possibly be?!

Yes, that’s definitely mint

Looking around

All over the room

People in suits

Huffing your perfume!

There’s apple and cinnamon,

Orange and blueberry

Licorice, grape,

Raspberry and cherry

No icebreaker needed

For strangers who walked in the door

Bond and write

And smell and smile and giggle galore

You’re simply the best

This much is true

You don’t run dry or gunk up

You don’t bleed through

The room may be too cold

Or for some it’s too hot

The mic screeches with feedback

No more coffee in the pot

The projector bulb blew

And the DVD won’t play

Mr. Sketch you are my one constant

All through the day

Brian Washburn

Brian is an author, a sought-after speaker, and an experienced instructional designer who has been a passionate member of the learning and development field for more than two decades. His work has been published in TD magazine, and he was named a Top Young Trainer by Training Magazine in 2011. Brian is the author of two books: What’s Your Formula? Combine Learning Elements for Impactful Training and Instructional Design on a Shoestring.
He is the visionary behind Soapbox, our automated instructional design tool that creates instructor-led training programs in under 10 minutes.
Over his career, Brian has designed and facilitated numerous training programs for a wide range of organizations, including a global training program for a Fortune 500 company and a global train-the-trainer program for Management Sciences for Health.
Brian holds an MA in Organizational Development from Antioch University.
Brian is always available to chat about learning & development and to talk about whether Endurance Learning can be your training team’s “extra set of hands”.

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