BROKEN MOLD

Five forty five
Friday morning
Like any other Friday morning
The last twenty two years.
Rinsing the sand from my eyes,
The ache from my bones
Before pulling my tingling left arm
Through the blue sleeve
Of the maintenance uniform.
Wedge my swollen feet
Into the steel toed work boots
As I kiss my princess of a wife, Angeline,
Softly on the cheek so as not to wake her.
I never got used to the quiet
Since the twins went off to state college,
Even missing the morning
Brawls for the bathroom.
I grab an apple for the road
As I head out for the foundry.
I pull into the gravel lot and see
The boss got a  new midnight blue caddy.
Might put him in a good mood for a change,
Hell, it’s been a whole year since his last car.
A note on my time card to see
Freddie the foreman right away.
I’ll be pissed if he’s still looking
For a rat to give up Skelly and Cootch
On their flim flam worker’s comp deal.
But today the man in the cage
Got something special for me.
Seems the boss made a deal with some devil
Overseas and there ain’t enough work to go round.
Two weeks pay and a no hard feelings
Pat on my bum shoulder and that’s that.
Freddie, I say, in these times
You’ll be out of work forever.
It’s a death sentence.
He shrugs his shoulder and says
He’ll hook me up with a turkey come Christmas.
His mouth is still moving but my mind’s
Trying to make its way through the mess.
My hopes and dreams are now expendable
As the top heavies have finally
Fallen through the bottom line.
In one fell swoop they’ve taken off the table
All I have to put food on mine.
How many more bones do you need to grind?
How many more pints of blood do you need to swig?
To set yourself up for life again and again.
You can’t take it with you, friend.
I get up on the catwalk over the vats of molten steel.
Usually the shake, rattle and roll of the family
Of heavy equipment is too loud to hear yourself think.
Right now my thoughts are loud and clear.
The weight of debt buckles my knees.
Letting down my loved ones pierces my heart.
For the first time, courtesy of company insurance,
I’m worth more dead than alive.
Angeline’s a beauty no man can resist.
The twins will watch out for each other.
I wish to God I could have said goodbye
But its all got to happen now
While I’m still on the books.
I have to jump into the fire and burn
The company’s money for a change.