Poetry Thursday: Jack Agüeros

Sonnet Substantially Like the Words of Fulano Rodriguez One Position Ahead of Me On the Unemployment Line

Jack Agüeros

It happens to me all the time--business
Goes up and down but I'm the yo-yo spun
Into the high speed trick called sleeping
Such as I am fast standing in this line now.

Maybe I am also a top; they too sleep
While standing, tightly twirling in place.
I wish I could step out and listen for
The sort of music that I must make.

But this is where the state celebrates its sport.
From cushioned chairs the agents turn your ample
Time against you through a box of lines.
Your string is both your leash and lash.

The faster you spin, the stiller you look.
There's something to learn in that, but what?

[Poem from Correspondence Between the Stonehaulers by Jack Agüeros, published by Hanging Loose Press. © 1991. Used here for personal and educational purposes only. Image of day laborers from North County Times, California]