The After-Dinner Speaker

Sitting around the table each evening

his wife and children pick nervously

at their food, dreading the sound

of the tapping of the knife against the glass,

of the rapping of the spoon upon the table,

signalling that he will rise to his feet

and upstanding, speak for forty minutes.

An hour sometimes, if the wine kicks in.

How they look forward to those nights when he’s away,

at a conference, say, of managers or teachers.

And they don’t have to listen

To those boring, yawning after-dinner speeches.