the hours & the company you keep

just how do you spend your hours &

the company you keep?

do you spend your days alone,

nose to the grindstone,

nose to the grindstone?
a good little american does what

the rich wealthy white forefathers

wanted,

they keep their nose to the grindstone

working their knuckles to the bone in

puritan purity, keeping the work ethic

alive,

preserving the has-been tradition in amber

like there was a special fair just around

the corner,

where one could be exhibited as

the last productive person to ever walk

the plank of the empire---

so where will it all go?

what will the producer have to show for

themselves, if they don’t make it

big,

in the great place still called the

“land of the free,”

by some, who have yet to spend time here &

find out that they never should’ve left

wherever they came from?

if one doesn’t prioritize a life

with friends & family at the top of the

pyramid,

drowning out all commitments to business &

jobs, work & the state,

the hours spent with the nose to the grindstone

are hours spent as a slave---

for you, yes you,

are in wage slavery

a slavery in which you happily sing a tune

as they come crashing down with the lash,

taking away pensions, taking away health care,

taking away

taking away,

until it’s all gone---

better to have others to fight with

when the other shoe drops,

than to have devoted a life to the process &

the system that devours it.