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Labor Day 2019

Courtesy of one or more tradesmen,

first Monday in September set aside

for employees able, eager, ready

and willing to acquire money

to marry groom or bride

climb the corporate ladder or

become an artisan, entrepreneur, technician

to side step getting rung, drafted

like an oxen plow, commandeered and chide

by management as insubordinate

till retirement or join kiln fields once died

 

from over exertion, yet nonetheless

sweat of brow efforts praised I espied

searching me noggin brief history re:

aforesaid day, where barbecues fried

dispersed aromas recognizing efforts

of workers with quality control as guide

grievances against danger challenged

sense and sensibility stalwart did not hide

the shenanigans that took place inside


boardrooms in tandem with glories of

American made products from those

who put figurative nose to grindstone –

just common everyday Jane\'s and Joe’s

who weathered extreme temperatures,

whereby bodies froze

but thanks to those who battled elements

at large and snatched doze

birth of brute efforts eventually

earned reserved renowned

borne couple shy of

nineteenth century, whence sound

of industrial silence replaced with

parades where hoof beats did pound

burgeoning and bustling city streets

echoed along hardened ground

fealty to country soldered

with faith, federation union freedom

and job security did thence abound,

 

which holiday underwent

transformations as bustle

and hustle

proved myth regarding land of milk and honey –

from straining of muscle

whereby life, liberty and pursuit

of happiness less of physical tussle

set (thank you masons) cornerstone to an invisible

complex edifice originally from New York

forgotten builders, farmers, machinists,

et cetera who laid groundwork

wrought by destruction

from Civil War largesse and pork

loosed from the bottle in

Antebellum South, when off flew cork

freeing a genie, which became rendered

supremely courtly poet, i.e. this former dork.