$675,000 / annum (base salary)

 

Mary was in this morning, boss,

she was showing me her stock options,

and we were discussing our conditions here

in this small part of your viral multinational

and you should see us sometimes, boss,

squabbling about our token wages,

our £5 an hour

that sets us: back-knifing, bragging, lying, just to get through the day

trying to steal an extra 5 mins at the end of our lunch, boss

or during the 10 minutes of break time we are given

in the morning and afternoon

just to feel a little better about the cage we are in.

but we know we aren’t getting anywhere, boss,

the way we work our constantly altering shift patterns like some carousel of agony,

with disoriented biological clocks faltering with low ebb batteries:

and boss, being born from ordinary parents can be something an ordinary worker can despise,

just sometimes.

but, boss,

what I find most interesting is the way you get your motivated managers

to keep the shopfloor staff keen about how well the company is doing,

and how much is getting sold by us each day,

and what items are selling the best,

almost like we could give a real shit about the whole thing,

but the prob, boss, is I know who all this is really benefitting:

just those smiling at the top of the pyramid

and who, on the rare occasion, bother to walk into one of these stores,

looking at us there:

lifting,

carrying,

trolleying,

stickering,

securing,

the rich man’s merchandise to guarantee

further riches for the rich man.

but, boss, what I like the most are the rules you have presented

to us workers of your viral multinational,

and how we should behave as members of your big, cuddly family,

while treating each other as competitive forces in some sick relationship,

and not as people who are equally striving for the same crumb of survival.

and when Mary was showing me her stock options, boss,

we snuck a look at the base salary which you have publicly declared,

as being deserved of earning,

and, boss,

it really don’t take much

to find out who really steals in this great family of yours.

Last update: 05-06-2007 18:21

Warning: take a snake bite antidote before reading, this poem contains venom.  Maybe it goes too far...but it's about dick Cheney, and doesn't he bring out the venom in all of us?

Karma's a Bitch, Dick

I've read today
in the news
that Vice President
Dick Cheney
suffers
"deep venous thrombosis"
or DVT
a blood clot in
the leg
from sitting too much
doctors say that
the clot could
break off
& travel to the lungs
& kill him
I see it being
like a tiny torpedo
ejected from a
blood-submarine
that blows up
the lungs
(a smart bomb!)
aint karma a bitch
dick?
doctors are placing
him on a blood thinner
to keep the clot
under control
but I don't see
how they could
thin this man's blood
anymore than it
is now
putting
snakes on
coumadin
is moot
karma's a bitch
dick

Last update: 14-05-2007 19:01

"It Lasts"
 

She rises to the anger

sleeps to the rage beside her

the fist that pummels her to submission

each day at night is behind her

Don't look into my eyes

you might see me

and I will vanish into nothing

The bruises keep me alive

I feel because of them

love does hurt,

sometimes, she says

I know you

I see you

a coward made bigger by your expensive suit

and silent blows

You have to slap the bitch

once in a while

to keep her in check,  he says

on the thighs and the back

where the marks won't show

to weak to hit a man

you know

for he might hit back

and he don't want that

and the anger only makes him

stronger

Submission makes her bow

Confusion makes her vow

never to tell a soul

the pain is only hers to keep

somehow

as she allows

him

to beat her

to death.

Last update: 02-05-2007 18:43

Michael Grover is a founding member of OW.  He has contributed three poems to the Agit Prop 101 series.  You can find more of his work at his site, www.covertpoetics.com.

Here is the first Agit Prop 101 poem:

Maybe if they gave me

Some psychotropic drug

To calm my rage

It would help me sleep at night.

Traumatized,

Chained like an animal

By three white cops

Me just a little black girl.

Am I ready to be an example

For police state torture around the corner?

Am I ready to he an example

To draw racial divides?

No, l am just a little girl.

I should have been playing.

Mama was working to pay the bills.

She could not protect me.

Now they will go to court

To decide if this treatment was acceptable.

Will they forget I am still just a little girl?

How will I look authority in the eye again?

Last update: 24-04-2007 20:14