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lyrics

THE WORKING

Industrial Ohio, 1985


White and black kids shuffle through the reduced-lunch line.
Their mothers and fathers stand in the rain to apply for the same jobs.

In kindergarten, I refused to accept a cookie from a classmate
because of the color of her skin. Like me, she lived next to the railyard.

Our mothers and fathers waited in the rain to apply for the same jobs.
When the trains rattled her windows, mine rattled in rhythm.

Because of the color of her skin, she lived next to the railyard.
I’m trying to sand down the edges of a jagged life—

thinking of that boy who refused to accept a cookie from his classmate.
In front of a mirror, I trace the lines of my grandfather’s face,

I’m sanding down the edges of a jagged life.
How do you continue to love the ones who taught you to hate?

In front of a mirror, I work to erase the lines of my grandfather’s face.
I want to get down to the micro, to the singular, to nose touching nose.

How do you continue to love the ones who taught you to hate?
“Son, your inheritance is the busted-out mouths of abandoned factories.”

I’m getting down to the micro, to the singular, to nose touching nose.
We are blood, brain, and bone—we are we—we are ours.

We’ve inherited the busted-out mouths of abandoned factories.
We shuffle toward the future in the reduced-lunch line.

We are blood, brain, and bone—we are we—we are ours.
It’s time we train in rhythm, time we rattle some windows.

credits

from All This Living: Selected Recorded Poems, released February 26, 2023

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Joshua Michael Stewart Massachusetts

Joshua Michael Stewart is a poet and musician living in Western Massachusetts.

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