White Van Man
By Jane Hyphen
- 1798 reads
White van man
Ripping up the tarmac
With cat guts in the tyre treads
And tiny scattered wings
Clinging to the wind shield
Drill drilling in his ear pods
As loud as the isolation
He’s a brown paper pilot
A steel safari ranger
A faceless rushing rider
On this relentless charge
Fulfillment of ‘the goods’
In all material forms
On to the next
‘Delivery men!’, they tut
‘White van man!’ they curse
‘But where’s my parcel?’
He doesn’t stop
Breathing in all that carbon
Eleven plus hour days for just enough
But it’s better than falling
Through a crack…
Consider working longer hours!
Get upskilled! Study in your sleep
When you’re not driving in your dreams
Seeing mansions and bedsits
Gated drives and tower blocks
What’s in all those boxes?
Electric blankets and turnips
And when we’ve all upskilled
From our paltry low paid jobs
Who will do them instead?
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Comments
Enjoyed this. Like you say,
Enjoyed this. Like you say, working all the hours for just enough. And the grand upskilling is only going to happen in the minds of speechwriters and consultants.
As an aside, I wondered today why scaffolders always play the same music. It's a phenomenon that needs to be explained.
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I don't have much forgiveness
I don't have much forgiveness in me I'm afraid. I feel like those politicians have had every opportunity to educate themselves and they've chosen greed, ignorance and bigotry. Telling people with buggar all to upskill themselves is so offensive.
Mad to think people still defend the Tories. I heard a young working class lad on the train defending BJ the other day.
Anyway, I'll stop ranting.
Really liked the poem.
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This really is (I hope) the
This really is (I hope) the very bottom-scraping dregs of politics in the last days of this 'government'
I wonder if anyone has mentioned 'upskilling' to the deliveroo driver who collapsed mid-delivery. This is not a world in which I want to live
Anyway - well deserved cherry and thank you for posting
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Do you think it is because
I wonder if the "just get upskilled" thing is because they think "If I can get a job while not really knowing much, so can anyone"? I don't understand why people who rely on public services vote for a party against taxing the richest, who are not going to help voluntarily, much rather spend it in space or on research into eternal life.
Great poem! I like how you spin it round to the driver's point of view
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Quite amazing how 'White Van Man's' life has changed in 20 years
from traffic hazard on motorways to traffic hazard in towns.
However you do make a very good point with this piece.
I'm not looking forward to the time the sky is filled with drones delivering silly items because we're too idle to go to the shops
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white-van man working all the
white-van man working all the hours and getting paid for just some of them. What a shitty job it is.
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