You made he right choice, Bill.
Clerks, yes, but what did you (or it) do?
Doug
> On Dec 28, 2016, at 3:43 AM, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> thanks Bill all those holes!!!!!
>
> 'dogs-balls standouts' is new to me!!cheersP
>
>
> On 27/12/2016 21:15, Bill Wootton wrote:
>> The four-storey office,
>> 450 St Kilda Rd
>> where I once worked
>>
>> now a big hole
>> Big yellow machinery
>> scraping more out
>>
>> Muted sounds of gouge
>> from behind double-glazed windows
>> in the Blackman Hotel next door
>>
>> Six months maybe
>> My first full-time job
>> after dropping out of uni
>>
>> 1976, pre-punk, Big Mal in power
>> punchcards, flexitime, everyone
>> accorded a numbered class level
>>
>> known or to be learned
>> We base-grade clerks, all fifteen
>> of us, dogs-balls standouts
>>
>> Files, batches, phone, desk,
>> processing time. Time, always time
>> except Friday drinks, Social Club
>>
>> Someone tapped a keg, 20c a glass
>> one floor below stratified desks,
>> loosened ties, toothy smiles
>>
>> All gouged away
>> down the memory hole
>> Let's drive to Perth, Denise
>>
>> I remember imploring
>> a plump, lisping, earnest
>> assessor one Friday
>>
>> Now right now let's
>> not clock back on
>> ever
>>
>> But we didn't, not then
>> not ever. Denise married Peter,
>> made clerk class four
>>
>> I went back to uni, taught,
>> strode class-free classrooms
>> Sidestepped the hole
>>
>> bw
>> 27.12.16
Douglas Barbour
[log in to unmask]
https://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuations 2 (UofAPress).
Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
Venerable Optimist
He saw the dark as a ragged garment
spread out to air.
Through its rents and moth-holes
the silver light came pouring.
Denise Levertov
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