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Nine Thousand Poems Shining

Denys E. W. Jones

Thursday, February 22nd, 2007

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 I went into a Job Centre
In search of gainful work.
I wore a nice, sharp pinstriped suit,
Black tie and clean, white shirt.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 They bade me sit down at a desk,
Fill in a form or two.
Then asked me loads of questions
To see what I could do:

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 “Can you lay bricks or cables?
Can you drive a truck or car?
Can you wait on folk at tables,
Or mix cocktails in a bar?

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Have you communication skills?
D’you speak clear on the phone?
Could you strike fear into debtors
Who have not paid back their loans?

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Can you sell things to people
That they do not really need?
(Insurance, vacuum cleaners, timeshares,
Gardening tools or seeds.)

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 Can you cook a Chicken Tikka,
Or a red hot Vindaloo?
Can you pull a pint of Bitter?
Can you unblock drains or loos?

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Among the trades we’ve listed,
If there’s any you can do,
Then there’s a chance we just might have
A well-paid job for you…”

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 This interview concluded,
I gave a shrug and sighed.
Stood up, made for the exit,
Yet before I left replied:

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 “I can’t do any of these things,
I haven’t got a hope.
I s’pose you think my coming here
Was some kind of sick joke.

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 But check the Football Poets’ site,
And here’s what you will see:
Nine thousand poems shining.
Nine thousand poems shining.
Nine thousand poems shining.
With one or two by me!”

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 22/2/07
Denys E. W. Jones

© 22/2/07

Notes

Nine thousand poems and counting… Congratulations to everyone involved.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/nine-thousand-poems-shining/