WILD ABANDON

This is a short fun poem, with a short fun backstory. I was 22 years old and working the swing shift in a factory – which influenced several other poems, too. The schedule was grueling. The base shift was 3 PM to 11:30 PM, often with an hour of overtime. I got Tuesday and Saturday nights off. Tuesday was a problem. There was never much to do at two or three on Wednesday morning, so I generally slept and threw my whole schedule off. But Saturday night was a different story. I lived in a house of musicians, and if there was a party, I was the life of it. Midnight was just my warm-up. I was pumped from the physical labor, getting union wages, so I had money in my pocket. As I mentioned in the backstory for THE BREAD FACTORY, I bought a book of poetry every week, but that’s not the only place my bread was spent. I felt very much a part of the great working proletariat.

In the film, Val, Gracie, and D’Andre caught the energy perfectly. There is a lot to be said for a fun short poem!