Every Stupid Job I've Ever Had Erin Bealmear Poetry

local_library Every Stupid Job I’ve Ever Had

by Erin Bealmear

Published in Issue No. 2 ~ January, 1996

Every stupid job I’ve ever had
was so completely juiceless
I’d leave with a big bag of blue funk
and a sigh like a sob
because at every stupid job I’ve ever had
someone said to me
“Hey,
want some smoke,”
and later my mother would say
“maybe you’ll end up liking it,”
right before I quit
every stupid job I’ve ever had
because, after all
so many people lie for a living
and we’ve all known someone
who hated us
because it made them feel powerful
so why should I let my heart thump
over bogus crap
just because these things have happened
at every stupid job I’ve ever had
where I’d spend day after day
praying that the wish granters
were watching
when I blew out my candles
when I threw a coin in a well
when I saw a falling star
so I wouldn’t have to admit one day
that every stupid job I ever had
has been nothing more than
every stupid job I’ve ever had
where I’d be sent out
to buy lottery tickets
for my millionaire boss
in a rotted place on the street
where ALL the rotted flesh people
envision a greener place.

Yeah
I’ve bought lottery tickets
for my millionaire boss
at every stupid job I’ve ever had
and when they talk to me
and if I’m listening
I hear about how they once followed the Grateful Dead
and frankly
I’m the only one
at ALL the STUPID JOBS
who hasn’t.

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Erin's poetry has been published in CrossConnect, Cafe Eighties, and Damaged Goods, and they have completed two workshop programs with The National Writer's Voice Project of the YMCA. They have been writing articles for a new music magazine called Rebel Route.