poem of the day 06.20.13

young and dumb

my old man asks me about the job

because sometimes he likes talking about jobs

and it’s that time of year again

i don’t know about the job, i tell him

they’ll either lay us all off or they won’t

does that worry you? he asks

i don’t care either way, i tell him

honestly, i could use the break

oh, to be young and dumb, he says

looking at my mother

i’m damned near forty

and no longer sure if i qualify as young and dumb

those union swine, i say

don’t get me started on those yellow cowards

all they want to do is make concessions

longer work hours

no contract and no retroactive pay

sometimes you have to do what you have to do,

my old man says

we’re spread thin as it is, i tell him

any more hours and i’ll be living at that fucking job

i have a good mind to quit, i say

young and dumb, my old man counters

but it’s no life

being stuck at a job all of the time, i tell him

i told my union rep this but he didn’t care

i told him i’d rather no job

than work every night of the week

so young and dumb, my old man says

shaking his head

you’re just conditioned, i tell him

work home work

which was kind of a shit thing to say

because of all of the years

i watched my old man scramble for work

the years when work home work

put food on the table and got me through school

but i’m young and dumb

and when you’re young and dumb and angry

like me

sometimes you don’t think when you speak

or you just don’t care

what you say to anyone

no matter what’s happened to them in the past.