Forgotten on the edge of the north
Forgotten, long forgotten
Edmonton waits
It’s 800,000 plus inhabitants
Know it will come once more
Boom
Some people may not know what I mean by that
Boom
In northern Alberta everyone does
We have oil incased in tar here
Oil mixed with sand
Slower than molasses
But there is a way
To separate them
And at a profit
When the price of oil is high
Wars
Cartels
Tragedies
They all affect the price of oil
And we wait hungrily, our dirty oil
Wanting that dirty money
Dirty blood money
Boom
You can see them coming
Price of gas goes up
And up
Until you can’t afford it
People leave college
University
Promises of a future
For oil jobs up north
Boom
All the restaurants and factories
Grocery stores and clothing shops
Scream for workers
Signs everywhere
Hiring now
Paying good
Benefits
Scholarships
For a while some fool themselves
Then head north to ride the wave
Boom
In the last one they passed a law
12 year-olds could now work at MacDonald’s
People could come in from anywhere
To fill our ‘labor shortage’
They were all McJobs as we call them
They had a hard time sending the workers back
Boom
When wages go up 10%
And rents double
Gas triples
Taxes go up with wage increase
Boom
Is the final sound you hear
As the young man
Who left his lover dear
Found someone new
And his oil wages couldn’t buy
Any reason for him not to die
Boom
Leif Gregersen
November 14, 2014
Check out my website for more poetry, my blog, my videos and photos:
www.edmontonwriter.com
YOU ARE READING
Poems From Inside Me
PoetryThis is a chapbook of poetry that led me to dedicate myself to writing, whether it be for money or simply to express myself. In this book I talk about family, love, loss and all the illusions that life brings us through.
