January 2021
Joe Cottonwood
joecottonwood@gmail.com
Bio Note: I’ve balanced my life as a home repair contractor by day, poet by night. Self-taught in each. My most recent book is Random Saints.
Author's Note: I composed this poem in November of 2016. At a time of new beginning, perhaps it’s relevant again.

What Shitwork Is

For a summer resort as a teen
my job was cleaning latrines,
three months at minimum wage.
Nobody said, “Good job, well done.”
But it was.

I’ve repaired septic tanks from within. 
Mucked in mud laying pipe. 
Scraped asbestos. Hot-mopped a roof. 
Shoveled bat guano. 
Nobody gave me a medal. 
Just cash.

Be humble. Do your share. 
Society will be better. Civilization more civil, 
you a stronger you, it’s really true, 
more worthy than those fat cats in their mansions 
who I dare not mention by name 
or they’d send legal thugs to bury me 
in lawyer manure.

Forget latrines. Think billionaires.
They bought the news. Congress. Supreme Court.
Learn about salvage, about repair. 
Learn to fix rot at the foundation, 
then work toward the top. 
Town council. Statehouse. Governor. 
Step by step go higher. 
Then ask what shitwork is.
And let’s get busy.
Originally published in Rat’s Ass Review. Nominated Best of the Net.
©2021 Joe Cottonwood
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to tell her or him. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -JL