Fred Voss
The Last in a Long Line
With all of the reformed alcoholic
machinists with all of their Jesus and Praise the Lord stickers
plastered all over their toolboxes a few
old alcoholic machinists hang on,
strutting
out of bars at 6:55 am to just make it
to the time clock at the 7:00 am start work buzzer
and then striding
around their machines taking huge bow-legged steps
like men on ships at sea
to keep from staggering,
shouting
above the roaring and screaming of their machines
whatever they feel like shouting to each other
just to show
that they are still there half-drunk without one
Jesus or Praise the Lord sticker on their toolboxes,
proud
of doing their dirty stinking fume-inhaling nerve-grinding jobs all day
and still pouring
coffee laced with whiskey out of their thermoses
and enjoying it
as their eyes glow
with the pride of every coal miner who ever drank beer at the
bottom of a coal mine
and every man
who ever did a job no-one else wanted to do.
Page(s) 33
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