Special Feature: Selected Poems for Labor Day

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity. — Martin Luther King, Jr.

                                                                                                      Bootstrap Fables, I

                                                                                                      written on Labor Day

                                                                                                      last bus ride

                                                                                                      high-rise shadows drifting

                                                                                                      across this temp's face

                                                                                                      Chen-ou Liu

My Dear Friends:

Today is Labor Day, a day to celebrate and honor the value of hard work. However, in today's highly competitive work environment,  insecure and precarious work is widespread across the economy. I would like to share with you a set of selected poems for your reflection on the meaning(s) and impact of work:

he sharpens the old awl

and holds it in his hand

and I'm a girl again

watching my grandfather 

at work, mending fences

 

Joy McCall

stranded at home

with kids to watch

and washing to peg…

he speaks to me

of walking on the moon

 

Marilyn Humbert

pens and brushes,

the tools of my trade . . .

I wield them

like swords in this fight

against infirmity

 

Debbie Strange

the day’s catch ...

trapped in fishing nets

fleeting sunset

Goda V. Bendoraitiene 

asleep 

among watermelons 

the vendor’s children

Angelee Deodhar

pink haze of dawn

the farmer puts on boots

with yesterday's mud 

Rp Verlaine

cleaning out my desk

a paper trail shows proud proof

of work done, praise given

could it be that I was not

an imposter after all?

 

Jacqueline Korschun Hyman

another Zoom call

the final of this long day

my eyes glaze over

yet I must remain alert

and pretend that I’m engaged

 

William Kerr

petal after petal

red on red

how many

layers of makeup

to look undead

 

Lorelyn De la Cruz Arevalo

the new hire

dressed in a burka ...

for three months

everyone notices her

but no one sees her

Chen-ou Liu

To conclude today's special feature post, I would like to share with you two sketches of today's changing, precarious workforce: gig workers and the working poor.

Bootstrap Fables, II

in Doers we Trust.

you drink coffee for lunch;

you follow through

on your follow through ...

in the ad this workman's look

Bootstrap Fables, III

this chance encounter

with my walmart colleague

at a foodbank

our small talk shifts from food

to rent to renoviction

Chen-ou