Our Times Magazine Feature Poetry
“Tick-Tack-Toe Them Under”
By Christopher Little
Published in “Our Times” Magazine 1/1/2004
We know them by name
but they are not known except for their name
used and abused until they are put out
on the corner to be picked up by somebody else
pushed through machinery and ground up whole
consumed until there is nothing left to grind, they are no longer solid
frayed nerves, savage burns, they have been betrayed
an expiry date placed upon them when they begin
the patrons aren’t meant to see them, but I know these men
and this is not where their story began
it is an unending cycle
family survival rests on their shoulders
but like Sisyphus with his never resting boulder
they push on with their ceaseless duty
while the kitchen fills up our senses
the workers remain one slip-up from a slip out
their silent pain goes on
even as a new day dawns