Factory Love

Machine, I come to you 800 times a day

like a crazy monkey lover:
in and out, in and out, in and out.

And you, you hardly ever break down

such clean welds, such sturdy parts.

Oh how I love to oil your tips.

Machine, please come home with me tonight.

I’ll scrub off all the stains on your name,

grease and graffiti.

I’m tired of being your part-time lover.
Let me carry you off

into the night on a hi-lo.

That guy on midnights,

I know he drinks

and beats you.

"Factory Love" from Show and Tell by Jim Daniels (University of Wisconsin Press, 2003). © Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin. Used by permission of the University of Wisconsin Press [2], all rights reserved.