Short Blue Collar Poems

forty-four years after high school
before one can 
retire and enjoy life...

Read More

Blue Collar—White Collar,
choking the same

Their difference endemic,
as time casts its blame

(Dreamsleep: May, 2020)...

Read More

blue-collar worker
the calluses on his hands ~
a badge of honor



Date written: 08/11/2020...

Read More

How does your part-crooked smile
Break out with such elegant style?
Subtle flaws modeled graceful and true
Like a gown woven just to fit you......

Read More

I think I've run over your cat.
Is it tabby, and fluffy and fat?
Does it wear a blue collar, supporting a bell?
Well, it's lying down here now, quite flat....

Read More

Listen to poem:

someone like you
someone like me
we can change the world
make our difference
it's up to you and me



AP: Honorable Mention 2021

Posted on March 20, 2021...

Read More

Single Jewish Blue Collar Worker--(33) Carpenter By Trade
Seeks roommates to share His Home
Race, religion, sex and age not important
Inquirers call--1-777-77J-ESUS...

Read More

Pritzker stripped crappers from his mansion
to avoid paying property taxes
while people are locked down
he's out painting chi town
the blue collar man will pick up his tab...

Read More

Country


Called American folk,
country music’s genre
caters to tough big-rig 
cross-country truck drivers, 
cowboy wannabees and 
crooners; the blue-collar
corners of the country.


(Pleiades)...

Read More

Home from work everyday covered in soot and grime, 
Grit in his shoes; busts his gut to earn every last dime.



Your Best Rhyming Couplet #2 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: L MILTON HANKINS
Date written: 09/29/2021...

Read More

I'm wondering about our secret selves - 

The vegetarian smoker

The isolationist who speaks Cantonese

The soldier with the peace sign

The blue collar millionaires
The conservative who dares

The scientist who prays
The vagabond who stays

There's more to all of us than what we seem...

Read More

raised in a
blue collar family
of six kids
poor
I wouldn’t have
wanted it
any other way
learned the value
of a dollar
and hard work
~
most precious of all
I learned
the magic
of creativity             



AP: 3rd place 2020, Honorable Mention 2021

Posted on February 19, 2020...

Read More

plaid announces self
variety of colors
speaks rather clearly

in children’s jumpers
or fanciest Scottish kilt
keen stability


plaid fosters feelings
upon arrival
saying blue collar

working mans fodder
powerful in every way
plaid picks up a rake

plaid is confident
marching in pleats and jackets
generational...

Read More

Unusual things in a distorted time
Why does it seem the good always get 
blamed for the crime
Money corrupts those so full of greed and 
continually take from those who actually 
need
Always seeming to plunder the poor mans 
dollar
Keeping the leash tight around that warn 
out blue collar
Listening ever so closely with a deaf mans 
ear
Who is it we should actually fear....

Read More

standing
playing a part

apart at the party

out of water
fish swim together
forgot that

there are no balloons
just arty talk
the occasional sing
at blue collar america

elbows sharpened
at the bloodless buffet

diamond rings rattle on wine glasses
ice cubes click teeth
talking into wineglasses
bowties circle – cackle

elsewhere
babysitters watching
as i do...

Read More

standing
playing a part

apart at the party

out of water
fish swim together
forgot that

there are no balloons
just arty talk
the occasional sing
at blue collar america

elbows sharpened
at the bloodless buffet

diamond rings rattle on wine glasses
ice cubes click teeth
talking into wineglasses
bowties circle – cackle

elsewhere
babysitters watching
as i am...

Read More

"If you're living from paycheck to paycheck, you're living beyond your means."
When I tell others this they tend to get angry at very high extremes,
but then what do I know? 
I'm just a hard working blue collar Joe
whose bank account is never low.
I've had all of the same responsibilities,
such as paying my debts and raising a family,
yet all of my peers are filing for bankruptcy....

Read More

The blue-collar poet writes 
of life in truth

Hard work long hours
Sometimes twelve or more

 Spinning brief yarns about coworkers
Neighbors and friends and what
A pain The boss is

The blue color poet
shares good times and bad 

Takes you on journeys to imaginary
Lands and fanciful places 
you've never been

The blue-collar poet takes you 
Again and again

I am a blue-collar poet...

Read More

Archie Bunker
World War II veteran and blue-collar worker
Anticatholic, racist, sarcastic twisted sense of humor
Edith his submissive wife never anger or ranter

Edith Bunker
Naive wife about life and a chatty wonder
Archie would tell her, Would you stifle yourself, it drove him insane
Loves her husband all the same 


10/4/2021

All In The Family
Clerihew 2 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Joseph May...

Read More

Facsimiles burst in the jungle
Gestures pulling paint off the wall
I've seen it all
Crouched, hideaway consumer companion choice
Urgency gather fervently
Upsetting the sewage balance

Garden shears hanging sturdy frames
Blue collar bastion glowing brain
A belt buckle preacher enlivened struggle
Suicide ransom beneath the huddle

I'm making waves
And riding them too
Street animal casting feather balloons
Whispering a marching tune...

Read More

As dawn arrives
   I sense the delightful morning sun 
rising over the land 
   A taste of green tea 
and I'm ready to face my day 
    as an ESL writing assistant
The city glows 
     almost super naturally 
and the metropolitan scene 
     comes alive 
As I walk to work 
    I sense the joys of urban life 
the masses of people off to work 
    in this fantastic
creation built with the sweat 
and blood of countless white and blue collar workers...

Read More

Blue Collar Animus 

It’s happened, you’re here
The back alley, oh dear
You’re worried, you fear
I’ve caught you, pains near
You thought you could master my will?
You lack of backbone makes me ill!
No words now, just malice
My eye’s show, no solace
My punches, your lessons
You bruise at, my discretion
Perhaps now you’ll utilize tact
And think before verbal attacks
As you lie on the floor
In your own piss and gore
Satisfaction is mine
That’s a fact....

Read More

Our congress just loves to lament,
about waste when taxes are spent,
but say it ain't healthy 
to tax raise the wealthy
so they tax those that can't pay rent.
 
Roads and the schools need maintaining,
from taxes I'm not abstaining,
while the poor live on beans
its the ones with the means
that are doing the complaining.

I choose a career that won't pass,
just anywhere near upper class,
but I'll make my dollar 
with sweaty blue collar
The wealthy can all kiss my ass....

Read More

Listen to poem:

The Blue-Collar Kitchen
David J Walker

I remember the aromas of childhood
Emanating from the kitchen stove
Dad’s biscuits every morning
Mom’s fried chicken
On Sunday or the 
Hash made of leftover roast 
On Monday
I remember frosted cupcakes 
After school
And oatmeal raisin cookies 
Just out of the oven and 
Waiting to cool 
Before we could eat them
Don’t ruin your dinner
Mother said
We weren’t rich but 
We were well fed
On a blue-collar budget
In the mid-20th century...

Read More