2025, poetry, work, Working Class Literature

the 2nd act in the work meeting that could have been an email

when an HR rep riffs open mic style
about the emotional toll
of telling people they’re laid off
“…but it’s not about their job performance…”
just a bad turn of finances
not any one person’s decisions,no; like
that great hand o’ the market
and the reinvention of the wheel
the executives hope desperately
(foolishly) will save us

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/versation, lot dogs, poetry

lot dogs 5

This one’s from a couple of years ago, when I worked parking at Churchill Downs. It’s an odd world to be on the edge of; on the edge because when your primary function is to be both seen and unseen. When you’re dealing with a subculture that has its own hierarchy, its deeply rooted sense of self-importance, a complex delusion that it operates with art and dance and beauty, and an ocean of money in its black heart that is the true rhythm it runs to… you either know your place, learn your place, or you don’t stay in the place.

I worked with people, some who were so in love with the “tradition” of horse racing that they were completely blind to the fact that a junkie in an expensive suit is still a junkie. The rest of us kept our heads down.


the clouds tempestuous  the sun teasing 
bob-n-weaving like one more
past prime boxer // autumnal clouds paint
the light divine fractured one o' them
oil paintings it just breaks the heart
to try catch a sorry photo
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2022, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry, Watchman's Journal

boog

storm clouds  like loaded down barges slide
along the train bridge north bound and around

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