<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">What Work Is </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">We stand in the rain in a long line</div><div class="">waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.</div><div class="">You know what work is—if you’re</div><div class="">old enough to read this you know what</div><div class="">work is, although you may not do it.</div><div class="">Forget you. This is about waiting,</div><div class="">shifting from one foot to another.</div><div class="">Feeling the light rain falling like mist</div><div class="">into your hair, blurring your vision</div><div class="">until you think you see your own brother</div><div class="">ahead of you, maybe ten places.</div><div class="">You rub your glasses with your fingers,</div><div class="">and of course it’s someone else’s brother,</div><div class="">narrower across the shoulders than</div><div class="">yours but with the same sad slouch, the grin</div><div class="">that does not hide the stubbornness,</div><div class="">the sad refusal to give in to</div><div class="">rain, to the hours of wasted waiting,</div><div class="">to the knowledge that somewhere ahead</div><div class="">a man is waiting who will say, “No,</div><div class="">we’re not hiring today,” for any</div><div class="">reason he wants. You love your brother,</div><div class="">now suddenly you can hardly stand</div><div class="">the love flooding you for your brother,</div><div class="">who’s not beside you or behind or</div><div class="">ahead because he’s home trying to </div><div class="">sleep off a miserable night shift</div><div class="">at Cadillac so he can get up</div><div class="">before noon to study his German.</div><div class="">Works eight hours a night so he can sing</div><div class="">Wagner, the opera you hate most,</div><div class="">the worst music ever invented.</div><div class="">How long has it been since you told him</div><div class="">you loved him, held his wide shoulders,</div><div class="">opened your eyes wide and said those words,</div><div class="">and maybe kissed his cheek? You’ve never</div><div class="">done something so simple, so obvious,</div><div class="">not because you’re too young or too dumb,</div><div class="">not because you’re jealous or even mean</div><div class="">or incapable of crying in</div><div class="">the presence of another man, no, </div><div class="">just because you don’t know what work is.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Phillip Levine</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;">
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