Updates:
1 - the brown dog surgery went well. She is still not using her back leg, but there is nothing preventing her from doing so, except her own trepidation.
2- the pension roll-over went through finally. So the money (while not enough to retire on) is at least in a IRA that I can control. Better than nothing, I guess.
3- the #2 paper machine in Albany, OR is going to be indefinitely shut-down (a minimum of 3 months). The official word is they will restart after the first of the year, UNLESS the economy worsens. Guess that’s another of wait and see. Still it’s bad news for those folks.
Today’s poem is from 8:95 - it was accepted and printed in Semi-Dwarf Review (#4). Too bad this wonderful zine bit the dust, but the editor Leonard Cirino is still out there, writing great new poetry and publishing some unknown but very talented poets - so support his press Pygmy Forest Press, if you possibly can.
WEYCO CONTAINERBOARD HYMN
no hymn in these concrete wall
no hymns in these concrete floors
sweat is obligatory
as are steel toe shoes
knives are no sharpers than tongues
here where pay checks are not complete salvation
pulp into paper - dryer cans that do not sing
merely moan
there are only two things important here
neither of which are dreams or beauty
but who expects THAT here
where the skies too are concrete
dripping condensate steam & sweat
covered with smoke & dust & fatigue
the poetry and rambling thoughts of a working class poet
