Saturday, September 1, 2012

A Happy Labor Day poem

The following poem was inspired by seeing the Gary steel mills at night as the Great Recession started easing up.  Happy Labor Day and raise a glass to the contributions of union labor in America.

U.S. Steel at night
Plumes of flame
illumine the night
in volcanic majesty
children of Vulcan
toiling for their wages

Furnaces stoked by
fortunate laborers
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
happy to survive
their daily trials

Highways and lake shores
flickering in the
orange glow
of pillars of fire
workplace signs and wonders

Pride of a country beamed
through the fiery froth
of billowing smoke
and the molten heat
of activity

In my age
of inertia
a passing comet
to celebrate
in the darkness

Angels of the furnace
watch our family
of steelworkers
walk home
in the dark

Gordon Stamper Jr.
August 25, 2010 (revised August 26, 2010)

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