General Poetry posted August 25, 2022

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This is a free form poem

Mass For The Laborers

by Regina Elliott

New York City's men of earth's salt

work with their hands,

it was the life of their fathers of

Brooklyn, the Bronx, Flushing,

Rockaway,

they sweat, each generation,

no suits and ties in a high rise,

the songs of their tools rhythmic.

This U. S. A. built from the strength

of their backs,

some paying off student loan debts

they took on for their kids,

Uptown snobs raised with the

silver spoon,

in Mercedes and Bentleys pass

them by thinking they're better,

they aren't because the Lord

loves His hard workers under

the merciless summer sun.

They go home at rush hour,

their wives take their workboots

off,

place their feet in a basin of

warm Epsom salt water,

they fall asleep in their

easy chair with the Yankee's

game on the TV on low

volume.

On the weekend they

awaken to the NY Post

and a strong cup of coffee,

on Sundays, they have

black and white cookies,

then, their work-primed

muscular hands hold

worn rosaries,

their steadfast wives

that age with them

wearing lace prayer

veils,

sit next to them in

the pews,

as the priest solemnly

raises the Communion

Host,

as this Labor Day

weekend,

it is a Mass for the

laborers,

amen.

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Please write a rhyming or free form poem on any subject. it needs to be three to five stanzas. If a rhyming poem, please rhyme at least every other line.

I'm a native New Yorker, although
I haven't been back to Nee York
in 32 years, the heart of New York
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This is a free form poem

Mass For The Laborers

by Regina Elliott

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