Mike Konopacki Labor Cartoons for September 2017
White Supremacy, Happy Labor Day, Concerted Activity, Vote Union
Where Art and Politics are no Stranger
Where Art and Politics are no Stranger
White Supremacy, Happy Labor Day, Concerted Activity, Vote Union
this working life
of all the moneyed frequent flyers
n pundits who double as liars
i’m just another shop monkey
who earned his right to retire
spent forty years in a funky quagmire
never got to drive a jaguar
i was a hand among many
on the lookout to be hired-out
in this working life
lift the tyrant’s curse
of shakin’ down
the peoples’ tiny purse
drink a rebel’s dose
of break-him-down
issued by our warrior nurse
whose heady liquor gently rains
upon this working life
i’ll impart to youngsters
all that i know
‘bout duckin’ my head
n wearin’ steel on my toes
when we planted stewardship’s garden
where stood a kangaroo court
we showed we’re neither untoward
nor the backward rueful sort
‘twas often a long
n rancorous row
but we kept it altogether
n took turns with the hoe
in this working life
lift the tyrant’s curse
of shakin’ down
the peoples’ tiny purse
drink a rebel’s dose
of break-him-down
issued by our warrior nurse
whose heady liquor gently rains
upon this working life
when bosses get the itch
to throw the metronomic switch
how fast they want us all to go
show’em you’re not one to bitch
but you’ll keep the beat by goin’ slow
if your meatloaf portion
is nothing but extortion
go split it up for all to share
hand out that extra coat
for someone else to wear
in this working life
lift the tyrant’s curse
of shakin’ down
the peoples’ tiny purse
drink a rebel’s dose
of break-him-down
issued by our warrior nurse
whose heady liquor gently rains
upon this working life [2014]