Labor's a Commodity, like Fish

 

A Labor Day poem about the evil of treating labor like any other commodity:

 

Labor's a commodity, like fish,

As children are fast-frozen and filleted,

Beating down the price. Fortunes are made

On selling to us all so cheap a dish.

Remember how the world is being run,

Determined by the market's iron laws

As slaves and children jingle in its jaws.

Yet is there nothing, nothing to be done?

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Chariots of War. By Aakash Gandhi. Music free to use at YouTube.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/labors.html. For more Labor Day poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/labordaypoems.html .

Poem of the Week

July 14, 2011 #642

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Bastille Day.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Base your life on reason, only reason,
And watch your heart go crazy on the spot!
Some would vary judgment with the season,
Though some would say it is, or it is not.
In politics, one should be politic,
Lest change change what one needs to stay alive.
Logic cannot tell what makes things tick;
Each thought remains a creature of the hive.
Despite the power of reason, please take heed:
An amputated cranium tends to bleed.
Yet nations healed holistically will thrive.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 28, 2010 #605
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Election Day (USA)..
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Politics brings out the worst in us.
One is more vile the more there is at stake.
Leveraging a little animus,
It turns mere opposition into hate.
The lava bubbling underneath each heart,
Inhibited by guilt or love or fear,
Comes bursting forth, by scribes with subtle art
Stoked vigorously as new elections near.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 14, 2010 #603
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a political poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
The triumph of the victor means
The losses have begun.
To be well-nigh invincible
Is to be on the run.
 
Power is a current that
Goes swiftly out to sea.
One's will is wind on grass; one's only
Hope is to be free.
 
Safety lies in wisdom more than
Strength since strength must die,
While wisdom rides the waves beneath which
Sunken victors lie.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

September 2, 2010 #597
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is a Labor Day poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Let there be a right to earn a living!
All who wish to work should have the chance.
Bad times come and go with circumstance:
Ought we then be hiring or just giving?
Rest assured, there's always much to do:
Demand's determined more by funds than need.
All we give away is wealth we bleed,
Yet work for wages would that wealth renew.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

July 1, 2010 #588
 
Dear Subscriber:
 
This week’s poem of the week is an Independence Day (USA) poem.
 
You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." 
 
You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.
 
Yours,
 
Nick Gordon
 
Is this the beginning of the end?
Now is when we start to fall?
Debtors to both foe and friend,
Eventually obliged to all?
Perhaps we can pull out of this,
Electing leaders who will lead,
Not stuck in this paralysis,
Dreading most what we most need.
Each must give that all might gain,
Nor ought we shun the sacrifice.
Could we but bear the healing pain
Equally, we'd pay the price.
Dependence on another's will
Assumes that we their coffers fill,
Yielding ever to their advice.
 
© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

February 18, 2010 #569

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for George Washington's birthday.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." You can also cast a vote for it to boost its popularity on Yahoo Buzz.

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Great ends demand great sacrifice,
Else the dream becomes a debt.
Open hearts will pay the price,
Redeeming loss without regret.
Great leaders also make demands,
Else the mandate turns to dust.
Willing minds find willing hands,
As courage shared engenders trust.
So a nation moves ahead,
Having found its avatar,
In hard times hungry to be led,
Navigating by its star.
Great followers must take great care
To choose a leader who will be
Out of love and duty there,
Not shy, but still reluctantly.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

July 8, 2009 #540

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a political poem. I'm sending it a day earlier than usual because I'm leaving on vacation from July 8 – July 27. The next poem of the week will be sent out on Thursday, July 30.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." You can also cast a vote for it to boost its popularity on Yahoo Buzz.

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Utopians are unrepentant monsters.
The perfect is the perfect rationale.
O send us serial killers, rapists, gangsters,
Preferably to “should” becoming “shall”!
In those who seek to make their visions real,
A rage becomes the furnace of their zeal;
Nor can they love, who would impose their will,
Sure enough of paradise to kill.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

July 1, 2009 #539

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem for Independence Day (USA). I'm sending it out a day earlier than usual because I'm taking a long weekend. The next poem of the week will also be sent out on a Wednesday rather than a Thursday because I'll be leaving on vacation from July 8 – July 27.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." You can also cast a vote for it to boost its popularity on Yahoo Buzz.

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

I wish there were a Washington
For every failed state,
A Jefferson or Madison
To guide them through the gate.

I wish there were a Lincoln
For those now ripped apart,
A Roosevelt or Kennedy
For those that have no heart.

I wish each had the fortune
With which we have been blessed,
And found in their own founders
Fit heroes for the quest.

I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish,
But such things none can will.
One can only plant the seeds
And shape the soil well.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

April 23, 2009 #529

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a political poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." You can also cast a vote for it to boost its popularity on Yahoo Buzz.

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Ah, the temptation
When one can print money
To print it and print it --
As much as one needs!

Ah, for one moment
The outlook is sunny:
Wealth is restored!
The project succeeds!

People are working,
Beginning to spend;
Credit is flowing,
The market is pleased;

Banks once again
Have money to lend;
One has a sense
That the moment was seized.

The problem is nothing
Can never be something:
Money just printed
Was not bought or sold.

There was no exchange
Of one thing for one thing:
Something produced,
Like laughter or gold.

And so we've increased
Our money without
Increasing the value
Of what it can buy.

The outcome must be
Without any doubt,
According to laws
Of demand and supply.

When there is more money
In relation to things,
Prices will rise
In response to demand.

Since just-printed wealth
No exchange for goods brings,
The goods stay the same
As the dollars expand.

Prices rise quickly,
Leaving us nothing
More than we had
When we first began.

And so we learn nothing
Can never be something
The hard way -- again --
As we sink in the sand.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

March 12, 2009 #523

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a St. Patrick's Day poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." You can also cast a vote for it to boost its popularity on Yahoo Buzz.

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

So let it go, that mythic Ireland!
Treasure the past, but let it, let it go!
Perhaps it was at one time wholly our land --
All of it – but that was long ago.
The time when states were nations is now ending.
Races know no borders; people move
In search of life, their clothes and colors rending
Cultures that must now their presence prove.
Know, then, that not politics, but art,
'Mid neighbors various in faith and race,
Sustains a people's history and heart,
Dependent more on ritual than place.
As on St. Patrick's Day we march in green,
Yet we must let go the blood-drenched dream.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

March 5, 2009 #522

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a political poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." You can also cast a vote for it to boost its popularity on Yahoo Buzz.

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

The last depression led to holocaust.
The rationale for massacre is fear.
Long before it starts, the game is lost.
The neighborhood of hate is always here.
The best place to begin is one's own heart.
There the mad dogs pull against their chains,
Lusting to tear some stranger's throat apart,
Rage that only love and patience tames.
Each heart becomes a lantern in a crowd.
Yes, people see according to your light,
As you by theirs – but speak of love aloud,
Lest other voices drown the coming night.
And do not turn away from victims' cries,
For evil's spooked by nothing more than eyes.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

November 13, 2008 #507

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a political poem.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week."

You can post a comment on the poem or read other comments on it at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

OBAMA/OSAMA

Obama meets Osama,
Brandishing a word
As deadly as the sunlight,
More potent as more heard,
As true as it's absurd.

Osama meets Obama;
Suicide meets life.
As certainty meets hope,
Meaning meets the knife.
Absolutes need night.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 23, 2008 #505

Dear Subscriber:

This week’s poem of the week is a poem about politics.

You can hear me read the poem and listen to the music for it at my site by going to http://www.poemsforfree.com and clicking on "Poem of the Week." You can also cast a vote for it to boost its popularity on Yahoo Buzz.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Lest there be lingering doubt, let me assure you,
I don't believe the half of what I say.
The point, after all, is winning, so I tell you
What you want to hear from me today.
Oh, yes, I have a point of view, and visions
To push for once in office, if and when.
But if I lose, then all my vain ambitions
And dreams will go the way of mice and men.
So I promise this and promise that
I'll spend and cut your taxes and the debt,
And pay for it by cutting just the fat.
You'll have your cake and eat it, too, I'll bet.
And yet and yet and yet and yet and yet ...
This is how the world is, isn't it?

© by Nicholas Gordon

Poem of the Week

October 16, 2008 #504

NOW, AT LAST, THE TIME OF RECKONING

Now, at last, the time of reckoning.
It had to come. You knew that, didn't you?
After all, nothing can't be something
Even when its stock is on the rise.

Now the panic after the delusion,
The great big yawning pit within the heart.
One sees disaster happening and wonders,
Regrets, resolves, recriminates, sits tight.

O Lord, what will happen now? The hunger,
People on the streets and on the move.
The last depression blossomed into Hitler.
What flowers will this rain of terror bring?

One thing now we know for sure – again:
That greed unfettered is a luxury car
Without a steering wheel, a mighty engine
That moves us forward into death and pain.

© by Nicholas Gordon