Man-employment
On the way to the bank this morning
four workers were shuffling pebbles into big buckets
carrying the load down some steps
coming up with empty buckets, filling them up again.
They had sweat on their brows; one hoped they made
enough money for the daily bread.
I may have worked long hours in my life, but
not like this, lifting and carrying heavy objects, and I take it they were low paid
It seems to me people who perform physical
work is low paid and insecure work
the first to be laid off and end up sleeping in the street,
They are the people we despise
But without them, the world would come to a standstill
yet we pay them a few miserable coins left in our pockets when we change our trousers.
Workmen
On the way to the bank this morning
four workers were shuffling shingles into big buckets
carrying the load down some steps
coming up with empty buckets filling them up again.
They had sweat on their brows; one hoped they made
enough money for the daily bread.
I may have worked long hours in my life, but not like
this lifting and carrying heavy objects, and I take it
they were poorly paid.
It seems to me people who perform hard physical
work are poorly paid in insecure work
the first to be laid off and end up sleeping in the street,
They are the people we despise
but without them the world would come to a standstill
yet we pay them a few miserable coins left in pockets
when we change our trousers.
I can hear the dozers in the distance,
droning across another mountain top.
Someone needs one hundred ton of wood-chips,
so dozer droning never seems to stop.
I can hear the chainsaw in the distance,
trimming down logs to load another truck.
Someone needs one hundred ton of wood-chips;
another mountain has run out of luck.
I can hear the log truck in the distance,
carting another load down to the mill.
Someone needs one hundred ton of wood-chips
from somewhere now with nothing left to kill.
It’s heartbreaking to see this clear felling,
but the the scar is seeded with blue gum,
and in time when they reach their potential,
once again I will hear the dozers come.
I can hear the dozers in the distance,
droning across another mountain top.
Someone needs one hundred ton of wood-chips,
so dozer droning never seems to stop.
In A Deep Forest
In a deep forest I did find myself lost
Trying to cool temper with some frost
Then went to sleep off into oblivion
And now am a North Carolina Bolivian.
Is amazing how Bolivia got its name
On sacks was identical and the same
Being that all the people are so poor
Maybe we should be called Ecuador.
People on Carolina have became high
And sold souls to someone passing by
Republican campaigner happen to be
Wanted to change things dramatically.
What unbeknownst to me had been told
Go to Carolina when you want to grow old
And another thing may want to mention
In soup just threw last bone of contention.
So I started swallowing my Poetry Soup
Now just how low will I have to stoop
Before body aches and back does explode
Carried a heavy load down Tobacco road.
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