Saturday, July 7, 2012

The Book, The Blood...My Poem

Tomorrow I am on vacation.

I am taking my wife to Custard State Lodge (South Dakota).

When I go with my wife, I let her choose our days events, but as Finley has always taught me....vacations are great for writing poems.

I have a clip board and a pen.

But I also love to read a book on vacation.

But not just ...a book, but...."A BOOK" something epic.

I'll tell you which book I chose, but first let me tell you how I chose it.

The bakery was savage this week.

We had outside temps of well over 100 several times this week.

With 6 commercial ovens roaring, it was well over 125 degrees.

Equipment broke

People got sick

People got scared

People quit

When you get into prolonged torture, you grow to accept it, and do your best to adapt.

Anyways....here is a poem I wrote about it.....

124 DEGREES -

With two hours before sunrise
The last baker enters the break room
Joining a crew, soaked and faded
Their shift hasn’t started

Condensation on windows
And Gatorade puddles
Serve as warnings
That this won’t be a day for talking

In silence they wait
Listening to the compressors
Wheezing for air, on the other side
Of the Oven Rooms door

Each considers leaving
But fears being the first
To turn tail
While their brothers face the dragon

Only years later will they realize
Why they had to carry on
It wasn’t for themselves
But each other


The End

Finley sent words of encouragement towards me after reading this and told me he enjoyed the poem, and then he reflected and mentioned how it is EZ for office folks to forget the beauty of vocations where your life / health is on the line.

"Danny, you need to read Christ in Concrete. It is written by a man, an Italian immigrant who is a brick layer in NYC. He makes sky scrapers. You hear how glorious the process is, but it comes at a cost. People get their skulls crushed in this book."


I knew I must have this book, but when I went online...it was written a billion years ago.


I called 4 local bookstores....


Nobody had it.


I posted on Facebook, a girlio said she found a copy in Coon Rapids. 


Coon Rapids is 27 minutes from my house.


For me to travel that far is like you going to Peru.


So I called Finley after work this morning, asked him if it was worth the drive....


Finley grunted and answered my question with a question.....


"Is any book worth a 27 minute drive?" Then he laughed.....


"I mean...will I love it I asked?"


"I don't know asked Finley....did you love the movie the Bicycle Thief?"

Low Blow.....he knows that movie changed my life.

Needless to say....I went to Coon Rapids.

I will report on the book when I get back.

I hope you liked my poem.

2 comments:

  1. Coon Rapids has always represented the end of the earth to me

    Hope you like it, after all that trouble

    ReplyDelete
  2. dIDN'T YOU HAVE A POEM (yukon gold) ABOUT HOW YOU COULD GO TO cOON rAPIDS, BUT THE GOLD FISH COULD NOT?

    ReplyDelete