Wednesday, April 20, 2011

morning construction

I awoke this morning to the sound
scaffolding makes

against cold hands and sidewalk.

Dimpled backs carried graffitied blocks
both

old enough to remember the days
when Unions gave a damn.

They moved fast, screwed fast,
hanging the nets and blinds before

my coffee boiled, naming it
Tuesday. I always ask

them about the weather; no one
knows it better then a day worker.

They know it like a baker knows yeast;
using their noses and
the feel of the air.

I watched as the new kid awkwardly
thumbed a hammer. Dropped it, in front
of a cute skirt wearing train wreck, walking past

them all-teasing us all. He'll get it
for the rest of the day,

but he had it coming,

the new one always does. When your new
you get it twice as hard, taking the shit
the rest went through,

all the days before you arrived-
just so its even.

Their always trying to make it even.

10 comments:

  1. I like it. I feel like I've been there even though I haven't. I;ve been the newbie. I still think Unions give a damn, but no one gives a damn about unions.

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  2. Nice. As the wife of a Union Rep, I can identify somewhat. She's actually in a Union that people HAVE to give a damn about.

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  3. thanks. I think Unions are important in principal. I was talking to an unemployed Electrition the other day; he said half of the Union members are unemployed. They all end up paying their dues using unemployment checks. It would be funny if it didn't happen as much as it does.

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  4. Oh, this font is so much easier on the eyes for me. Nicely done.

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  5. love your new blog template, stunning poem, well done.

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  6. Nice and powerful poem!

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  7. in frontof a cute skirt wearing train wreck, walking past.... Nice. I like the poem is well written.

    my thursday post was here
    http://blackswanpoetry.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/poem-standing-here/

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  8. the opening is grating, in that 'nitty gritty' life-feels-real-in-moments-like-this way.

    i wonder if scaffolding and dimples and graffiti lend themselves to equality? or if these are things that only bakers know the secrets to?

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  9. thanks shinerpunch, i'm always open to criticism.

    everyone else: thanks a lot for reading, and enjoying.

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  10. Very immediate write, captures the street feel quite well, enjoyed reading it!

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