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form
filing for unemployment again at the end of teacher appreciation week
along w/ 50 million other people
i almost put an air conditioner in the window backwards, on-switch facing outside
i almost cooled off the whole city
what are you doing, my friend said gently, flying down delaware ave, into the night
i appreciate you, i said, waving goodbye, on my way
back to the form:
were you absent from work when work was available:
no, never
i would never try to love my friends
every single day, skipping stones across the water
for pleasure, one dream after another
why would i ever want life to just get better
and better and better
did you or will you receive vacation pay
the car is parked, the door is locked
the room is empty, the fridge is closed
the day is long, the pain is old
when will you learn
said the carcass of an ATM
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Ryan Eckes is a poet from Philadelphia. He is the author of Wrong Heaven Again, General Motors, Valu-Plus, and Old News. Recent poems have appeared in Prolit, Wax Nine Journal, and Windfall Room. Eckes has worked as an adjunct professor at numerous institutions and as a labor organizer in education.
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Depression Bread Line by George Segal, 1991, bronze, 108 x 148 x 36