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LABOR POEM OF THE WEEK The Application

Lawrence Smoot | Published on 2/1/2025

The Application

At the base of the form
there is a blank for free-form exposition.

The attached question posed,
the one that cannot be answered with check marks,
is: why would you be exemplary at this job?
The reality is that I do not need
to be good at this job,

I simply have to appear to be a more desirable
potential employee than all the other
street-urchins, losers, and malcontents
that have wandered in to join this lottery.

I write: my skill set
matches your undocumented need.
And every day
I learn more, grow and transform.
Maybe it is my penmanship this exercise judges.

Ken Poyner, Blue Collar Review