2023, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry, river life, the no-scape, Working Class Literature

in the deck room the conversation is either socioeconomics or fart jokes

the time of day makes the expert. look around
before announcing your intentions to the autumnal sunrise.
yesterday after shift I saw the great blue heron again,
gliding low atop the river. hunting, showing off
or a bit of both. message received. in the AM
focus on coffee and pleasant topics like
‘Was or was not Reagan a fascist?” beware coded language,
as per the human resources policy.
forgetting myself a few moments I expound,
wishing I had relied instead on a different bad joke.

Standard