Unemployment

 

 

Heard one just recently

That I thought was very funny,

It had to do with unemployment:

A remark rather silly.

 

I have a strong feeling

That you will not believe me,

Part of the problem with unemployment

Had to do with retirees.

 

I read in a local tabloid

That retirees were unemployed

Thus, pushing unemployment up-

What a deceptive ploy!

 

It is rather silly to me

Since I am also a retiree

But understand, my appreciated reader,

I am not that silly.

 

 

Some retire to retyre;

Definitely not so in my case,

When retired well-to-do are reemployed

I see it as a disgrace.

 

A disgrace and an insult

To the bright upcoming youth

That are employable but unemployed-

Therein lies the truth.

 

Many are languishing at home

That are highly qualified

But their applications for employment

Are constantly denied.

 

I heard an explanation

That built up in me defiance,

While these youth were well qualified

They had no work experience.

 

One must have work experience

In order to be employed,

This to many a University Graduate

Must be a real kill-joy.

 

 

Picture such happening to me

In the year 1971,

All like now I would be unemployed

With all my hopes gone.

 

The unemployed really

Are people looking for employment,

Not the indolent or the parasitic

Who any idea of work resent.

 

Can you actually believe

Part of the unemployed are retirees?

That is as silly as cement plants

Growing into trees.

 

Tell this present Government

When they are distributing jobs

 That if they should identify any for me

I would find that rather odd.

 

Stewart Russell © May 9, 2024 

 

The Swiftness of the Days

 

 

I am so terribly confused

Regarding these days

That I am overcompensating

In so many ways.

Take for example

The swiftness of time:

I mix up these days

Like I am out of my mind.

Bank Holidays are Sundays

Thursdays begin weekends

And often I ask what day it is

Like I’m off the deep end.

In my mind I think

Yesterday is two days gone

When in actual fact

Today is only the second dawn.

Maybe for just for me

It would be wise

If the days could be reorganized

As a personal compromise.

Today would be yesterday

And yesterday the day before,

Tomorrow would be today

And I would struggle no more.

I would be better able

To keep up with the time

And I would no longer feel

Like I am out of my mind.

Today would be Tuesday

Yesterday would have been Monday

And that would put me on cue

Even though ahead by one day.

   

Yes, change the days

So that retirees can keep up

And we won’t mistake the days

And run out of luck.

Like when we seek a bargain

On a particular day

And we are told it was the day before

Meaning it was yesterday.

So, that yesterday, as I see it

Is the day before,

Day before is therefore two days earlier

Need I say more?

That works for the seller

Let it also work for me

And adjust all of the other days

Accordingly.

I did not plan to go there

But I discovered a precedent,

Since bargains are the day before

I’d be a day late in any event.

Stewart Russell © August 2020

TGIF

Thank God It’s Friday

For those who work on weekdays,

For whenever Friday comes

They are into their weekend ways.

Signing off until the Monday

When work will resume again,

Rushing from the work compound

Just like a run away train.

Not so for the shift worker

Whose weekend can come midweek

So that thank God it’s Friday

Cannot be an every week’s treat.

But that notwithstanding

Workers look forward to Friday,

The malls are ram for sure

Where the bosses have no say.

Often not making it home till late

Many a man and woman too,

Mingling with the youth and children

With so many fun things to do.

But the weekend passes quickly

Just Friday evening and Saturday

So some incorporate Sunday

And make that a weekend day.

Retirees too are thankful

Since their Friday occurs most days

With the exception of a pathetic few

Who must still have big bucks pay.

So thank God it’s Friday for you

If you belong to the working class

For me it really doesn’t matter,

Those days of slavery are past.

Stewart Russell © November 2018