Factory Love
Machine, I come to you 800 times a day
like a crazy monkey lover:
in and out, in and out, in and out.
And you, you hardly ever break down
such clean welds, such sturdy parts.
Oh how I love to oil your tips.
Machine, please come home with me tonight.
I’ll scrub off all the stains on your name,
grease and graffiti.
I’m tired of being your part-time lover.
Let me carry you off
into the night on a hi-lo.
That guy on midnights,
I know he drinks
and beats you.
"Factory Love" from Show and Tell by Jim Daniels (University of Wisconsin Press, 2003). © Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin. Used by permission of the University of Wisconsin Press, all rights reserved.