BROKEN by Fred Voss

Laid off,
in a little trailer by a guard gate the machinists
are stripped
of tools out of their toolboxes
and photo i.d. badges
and company shirts,
stripped
of incomes,
stripped
of usefulness at 45 or 51 or 55
stripped
and sent out the gate like little boys,
little boys
with families
and mortgages
and lifetimes of pride
on the line
who must now beg
other companies for the right
to be adults.