Long Line of work Poems

Note: This is the 2nd half of one of my MANY long story works, and the 1st half can be accessed, of course, at "poems by Mark Stellinga" on the soup.
My wife and I were...

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Being fired for no good reason, particularly just before you qualify for your pension, is a very devastating experience. This happened to one of my sisters -

        ...

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Here's the deal, folks...

This is, as indicated, the 2nd HALF of this fairly lengthy poem. Due to Poetry Soup's file-size limitations, this piece, like several of my story-pieces, had to be posted in 2 parts....

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This poor guy’s professional pride was totally obliterated by a snooty customer.

                       ...

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Tacita leaned in close and lowered her voice a tad. “So tell me, Jack. What’s your real name?"

"You don’t really want to know who I am. You just think you do. Aye, the public loves...

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The HR person called me in… I was turning gray… Was he even twenty-one?
I wondered if the interview would go well, as he did fung shui the chairs around.
Offered a caramel expresso mocha late decaf,...

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Standing at the fork in the road,
I don’t know which way to go.
I watch a girl stand there crying,
Running to and fro.
Her tears fall to the floor,
There’s nobody there to catch,
Her heart as it sinks...

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alone in this world of chaos and destruction
fighting to survive in a world with lost hopes
my dreams of freedom becomes just an illusion
while i strive for the stars and stripes we once use to see...

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I: in the 70s

At sixteen, looking through a magazine,
I came across the picture of a girl
whose character was Mary Ellen in
“The Waltons” show I watched on Thursday nights.
Her look was that of mine when I...

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You’re selling drugs to your own people; you’re like a terrorist bomb 
                      ...

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LINES

We LINE up in traffic, or clear out the door, 
And there are BEELINES we make, to the seashore.
Get mad and we're "DRAWING A LINE IN THE SAND," 
He USES A LINE when he asks...

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*Image of Cherokee Piper, Four-seater single engine by Wilkie.

Lifetime Get-A-Way, A Survivors Tale

It is nineteen-eighty new years eve in less than two days,
that said--this turned a fourteener syllabic lined poem,
fourteener set of rhyming-lined poems--to paraphrase,
I...

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The worker bees, are a hardy bunch,
They wake at four, and prepare their lunch.
It’s off to the mines, for another day,
To stir the pots, and earn their pay.

Their hard hats on, with small yellow lights,
Standing...

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HEART OF A GOOD WIFE:

Don't ever nag that she grew wild,
I'm blunt to say this,so be assured.
And no more can you treat her bad.
Absolutely, she's now matured.
Frankly, she possess all the qualities,
That filled your home...

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Lord hear my prayer.
                               
...

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Middleclass alcoholics 

After a heart attack my life as seaman was over, so I went back to school 
and trained to become a shrink helping people with addiction problems
and for this I got a diploma....

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Well, I woke up this morning 
Put my blue jeans on 
Drank my morning coffee 
Answered the telephone 
Had another assignment 
Another body had to die 
No need to ask what for 
It was my...

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Sent down from Heaven, their jobs are sure tough
But they don’t fly away when the going gets rough
They rise to the challenge to bring back wonder and hope
Failure does not happen in their line of...

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by Rachel Dunkerque AKA Carolyn V. Crawford
(lyric and melody)

I took the time to scratch your hair
I took the time to clip your nails
And I even picked the pimples from the velvet of you face
Ironed your...

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A single mother weeps, trying to sleep,
Her son’s father figure has been gone for nearly three weeks. How is this funny?

A bright mind has no control in his own home,
The orphanage doesn’t own enough money...

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I must have one of those faces
or maybe people just assume
that because I'm quiet
I must be a good listener, because
wherever I go- they find me

The talkers, the sad, the lonely
the frustrated, the depressed
the I-just-don't-know-what-to-dos

Like the...

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We last saw him in the summer of '78.
Our ministry with kids had closed,
and we were being reassigned to a
church 2000 miles away. Little did
I know that we would ever see John
again.

My wife and I...

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THE RIDE

I got a horse named Sam, a dog named Joe, 
and my old Chevy truck.
In the front of my trailer is my saddle and bridle 
with a horseshoe thrown in for luck.

Got my bedroll...

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I pack eggs on a chicken farm.
Their colours range from brown to white.
Quite often in this line of work
I see some funny sites!

When walking through the hen house
I see a yellow forest of legs.
The foliage...

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Office Worker At Sunrise

Early to bed early to rise, makes one healthy and wise....
Ready yourself, it is a new day with each sunrise....

Spring quickly out of bed, put some life into it....
Grab a quick bite,...

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