Industrial Revelation

I tell my students about a time

when seniority was told

by the number of fingers

on a worker's hands

 

No weekends or overtime,

children — bare toes dangling —

twelve hours on the line

 

I look for signs of empathy

as we watch Norma Rae

UNION placard above her head

 

Instead someone mimics

Sally Fields' Oscar line:

You like me; You really like me!

 

Another asks if she's had

more than one facelift,

a third, metalic nails mid-text,

announces she might be dead.