Labor Leaves Us Little Time to Live

September 11, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is labor, in honor of Labor Day, which falls on September 5.

Today’s poem is a Labor Day poem about the need for protest.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Labor leaves us little time to live

As we are given less than we must give,

Being but the undistinguished sea

On which may sail those who catch the wind.

Reason not with sailors, but together

Determine the direction of your weather,

And storm, if storm the wayward watchword be,

Yielding waves that little leave behind.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/laborl.html. For more Labor Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/labordaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Labor.

September 5: Lest You Think High Taxes Rob the Rich

September 6: Labor Ought to Earn a Decent Living

September 7: Labor’s a Commodity, like Fish

September 8: Let’s Not Minimize the Role of Thugs

September 9: Labor Day Officially Ends Summer

September 10: Let Us Honor Capital and Labor

September 11: Labor Leaves Us Little Time toLive

Let Us Honor Capital and Labor

September 10, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is labor, in honor of Labor Day, which falls on September 5.

Today’s poem is a Labor Day poem about the need to find the right balance between profit and wages.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Let us honor capital and labor,

As both must win for either not to lose.

Blessings are not always what we choose,

Overcoming what we think we favor.

Remember we must earn what we would spend;

Decent wages augur decent sales.

And little profit little pork entails,

Yielding yields too lean to long defend.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/letush.html. For more Labor Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/labordaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Labor.

September 5: Lest You Think High Taxes Rob the Rich

September 6: Labor Ought to Earn a Decent Living

September 7: Labor’s a Commodity, like Fish

September 8: Let’s Not Minimize the Role of Thugs

September 9: Labor Day Officially Ends Summer

September 10: Let Us Honor Capital and Labor

Labor Day Officially Ends Summer

September 9, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is labor, in honor of Labor Day, which falls on September 5.

Today’s poem is a Labor Day poem about the end of summer.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Labor Day officially ends summer,

As those who work enjoy one final fling.

Blessed are those who bear the daily burden,

Of whom few savants speak or minstrels sing,

Returning to their harness each September.

Days of ease give way to hours certain,

A long routine that wends its way through spring,

Yielding one more year of brutal labor.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/labor2.html. For more Labor Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/labordaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Labor.

September 5: Lest You Think High Taxes Rob the Rich

September 6: Labor Ought to Earn a Decent Living

September 7: Labor’s a Commodity, like Fish

September 8: Let’s Not Minimize the Role of Thugs

September 9: Labor Day Officially Ends Summer

Let's Not Minimize the Role of Thugs

September 8, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is labor, in honor of Labor Day, which falls on September 5.

Today’s poem is a Labor Day poem about the role of gangsters in American organized labor.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Let's not minimize the role of thugs

And gangsters in the history of labor.

Beasts devour ordinary folk.

Opposition soon gives way to shrugs,

Rendering allegiance to whomever.

Dormant zombie unions bear the yoke

Abjectly of their presidents-for-life.

Yet workers still must organize and strike.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/letsno.html. For more Labor Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/labordaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Labor.

September 5: Lest You Think High Taxes Rob the Rich

September 6: Labor Ought to Earn a Decent Living

September 7: Labor’s a Commodity, like Fish

September 8: Let’s Not Minimize the Role ofThugs

Labor's a Commodity, like Fish

September 7, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is labor, in honor of Labor Day, which falls on September 5.

Today’s poem is a Labor Day poem that sees labor as a commodity subject to the market’s laws.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

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

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/labors.html. For more Labor Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/labordaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Labor.

September 5: Lest You Think High Taxes Rob the Rich

September 6: Labor Ought to Earn a Decent Living

September 7: Labor’s a Commodity, like Fish

Labor Ought to Earn a Decent Living

September 6, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is labor, in honor of Labor Day, which falls on September 5.

Today’s poem is a Labor Day poem about the social effects of business decisions.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Labor ought to earn a decent living

As business cannot help serve social ends,

Because the good of all of us depends

On equity in taking and in giving.

Remember that the lives of those who labor

Determine the environment of home,

As one must live at last with everyone.

Yet some forget that wages shape behavior.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/laboro.html. For more Labor Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/labordaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Labor.

September 5: Lest You Think High Taxes Rob the Rich

September 6: Labor Ought to Earn a Decent Living

Lest You Think High Taxes Rob the Rich

September 5, 2016

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. This week’s theme is labor, in honor of Labor Day, which falls on September 5.

Today’s poem is a Labor Day poem about the redistribution of wealth.

I welcome comments on my poems at http://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

Yours,

Nick Gordon

Lest you think high taxes rob the rich

And redistribute wealth down towards the poor,

Be aware: That very wealth from labor

Once flowed upwards towards those greedy hands.

Redistribution goes both ways, and which

Direction gets more flow is not unsure.

All the winds are in the wealthy’s favor,

Yielding only to fierce-fought demands.

© by Nicholas Gordon

Hear or watch me recite this poem and listen to the music I chose for it at http://www.poemsforfree.com/lesty2.html. For more Labor Day poems, go to http://www.poemsforfree.com/labordaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Labor.

September 5: Lest You Think High Taxes Rob theRich