I have one carpenter an alcoholic who’s drinking again
He whacked his wife good got a court date today
She may not show up if he goes back to A.A.
He’s desperate now so he’s only smoking pot
Another lumper a Vietnam Vet can only work alone
He’s afraid of heights and can’t be trusted
Near anyone with a hammer or nail gun
We use him for clean-ups and dump runs
By the end of the week the new kid from the tech
Who knows more than the rest will be fired
His dad used to beat him, won’t be told what to do
He’ll say his boss sucks & move to Florida
Summer I’ll hire that student from the community college
Whose Dad was a carpenter & died when he was 6
He is slow but meticulous has a new girlfriend each week
He’ll have one pregnant by August and transfer to full time
My foreman’s in rehab withdrawing from heroine and crystal meth
He’s the best I’ve got his wife picks up his checks
She says he was molested by a priest as a kid
That he’s not a bad guy if only he could stay clean
Before mid-spring I’ll need more help & hire a half dozen
Helpers unskilled from the labor temp agency
Two will work out and stick around for a while
Unlike their parents who too are in rehab
One new hire will learn fast replace the foreman one day
Thank me for teaching him a trade that pays
And giving him a chance to prove himself
Something the folks in the foster home never did
Others will quit steal tools start their own business
Take down payments never do the work
File for bankruptcy and keep the funds
Pay off gambling debts instead of get-rich-quick
Some will be replaced by divorced union carpenters from the city
Who’ll say they moved to Cape Cod for the slower pace
Ask to be paid cash under the table or can’t work
While somewhere in Boston his kids are hungry
Another kid from the tech will eventually come along
Hungry to show that he’s one of the guys
He’ll spend 10 minutes in the trailer looking
For the wood stretcher the journeyman sent him for
Next week that same journeyman will cut off his finger
On the table saw while wearing OSHA approved
Eye goggles after bragging about the safety course
He took and how many year’s experience he has
Before the year is out and our building projects complete
The rookie will start dealing pot this summer, get arrested
The journeyman will switch careers selling insurance
And the foreman might not make it thru withdrawals
Of those who stay on
All will ask for a raise.
José Gouviea is a poet, journalist & poetry radio personality who lives on Cape Cod. He is Poetry Curator at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, author of the Meter Man poetry column for the Barnstable Patriot newspaper in Hyannis, and host of the Poets Corner poetry radio show out of WOMR-FM in Provincetown. José’s reading of this poem was recorded at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts during the 100 Thousand Poets for Change Event hosted by Stone Soup Poetry.
Oddball Magazine has published poems by José as well as tributes to him in order to raise awareness of the Joe Gouveia Recovery Fund, an effort to help offset the costs of the poet’s upcoming cancer surgery.
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