i remember that sweaty summer
starting work at seven
and fumbling with the time clock,
the sharp aroma of invisible, inevitable glue
fumes, percolating my soon-to-be-running nose
and the hydraulic hissings
making a bleary blanket haze in our ears
as plain white and solid as the sterile cinderblock walls.
it was simple
simple work, simple lunch, simple paycheck
simple as the sweat
rolling down our weary bodies, sogging our shoes—
i remember that old woman
the one with the condition
and how at times, i had to take over her station,
printing obscure plastic pieces
from the goliath gold machines that dripped with expended hot oil
and condensed exhaust.
she didn’t like the sweat
she said it was like she peed her pants, she sweat
so much, so we’d joke about our wet asses in our damp sagging
pants and our aching feet and calves
and our pruney finger-cotted tips—during breaks.
and she was always looking out for me
from underneath her heat-drooped hairnet.
9273 was a tired old woman, dripping with exhaust,
but she was good
to me, and i didn’t mind the sweat
so much.
i remember that big girl with the live-in boyfriend
she didn’t show up to work much,
or work much when she did, her hairnet
half hanging off her head. she said girls don’t sweat
—they glisten
and for 8 hours she could chatter above the hissings
about sex and Mountain Dew
and not being able to afford the electric bill
and lying to the supervisor about working on weekends
and how a quarter mile was too far to walk
to work
in this hell hole
when she might be knocked up anyway.
i remember that college girl
the one who couldn’t handle all the mind-numbing
simplicity. she never worked overtime;
she didn’t like those sweltering machines
whirring and grinding and whirring and grinding
she didn’t like to sweat
and she counted down her days until her next semester,
and we counted down the hours until our next break,
where we would giggle and laugh because, glue
makes things funny
we were giggling
giggling from underneath girders and florescent lights
giggling in our hairnets
giggling about boys
it was a simple summer
simple and sweaty
Posted by lortz 
