Willamette Shipyard Blues

by Alex Tretbar

after Langston Hughes

I was lost when they let me out
Just my welding gun
Lost when they let me out
Just my welding gun
So I went down to the shipyard
Where it all began

Oh they pay me well
I make a small fortune
Yes they pay me well
I make a fortune
And every other Friday
Meet the surgeon


See the sparks all crazy
Where I arc the hull
Yes the sparks all crazy
Where I arc the hull
One day I’m gonna turn this light
Against my skull


Read on . . .

“Multivalent Elegy, Three Days After Summer Solstice,” a poem by Alex Tretbar