content in progress.

we'd all like to have
that nice cushy job
where toiling can be given
a mammoth fob

those who've landed
in these plum positions
will be assured of the
best working conditions

few if any missions
do get facilitated
the office is a place
of nil being slated

an extended lunch hour
management takes
whilst busy bees are
hauling the heavy stakes

company CEO's lounging
around in boardrooms
penalizing the labourers
who are pushing the brooms

wouldn't it be great
to sit constantly down
and not keep polishing
the boss's idling crown

sitting by a window
staring out the smudged pane
past the polychromatic crowds
bent, huddled, faceless in the rain

a smeared image swirling by
modern art painting not yet dry

wishing to nod off
tired to the bone
the rattle and rumble beneath
the stop and the start
keep my weary eyelids apart

the odors of crowded humanity
fill my nostrils,
make them burn
alcohol, sweat, stale cigarette smoke
on clothes that are old and worn

garlic, deep fryer grease
pastrami and cheese in a sack
blood dried on the apron
slung over a butcher's back

a cacophony of noises
surge inside the car
papers rattle, fingers tap
on electronics or on steel bar

~~~

nobody's talking
eyes are downcast
to newspaper, cell phone
or hangnail
fear and distrust
thick in the air
scattered about like
yesterday's mail

on this common commuter carrier
they're traveling the same route

home

just working folks
trying to make it all work out

they have much in common
in a way, aren't they all kin?
worn and weary at end of day,
fellows in the midst of this din?

14th Street station ahead
warns of various dangers
posted there on a column decreed

Please do not smile at strangers

he has a penchant
for tinkering with stuff
if given half the chance
he'd tinker with his navel fluff

I've seen him tinkering
with working order stuff
that doesn't need any tinkering
put upon its cuff

some while back he
decided to have a tinker
with a room partition at the hall
and as a result of his
non essential tinkering
down came the east facing wall

tinkering is an occupation
of the tampering ******
unnecessarily touching stuff
with an interfering fiddle

Busy days
Long hours,
Closing eyelids,
On the buses.

Drooping eyes,
Sore knees,
Cranky voices,
Like a breeze.

Hard day,
Aching back,
Groans and moans,
Tried to slack.

Need a rest,
Need some time,
Need a home,
Need a more rhymes.