Labor Day

is a block party,
a football game,
one last trip
to the beach.

Overbuilding,
overextension, then:
a panic.
Collapse.

politicians and podiums,
parades,
highways crawling
with Airstreams and boats.

Fading companies,
failing banks.
Union wheels rusting
in a locked-out railway yard.

hot coals and
cold beer,
fireworks glittering
over the lake.

boycotts, troops,
strikebreakers.
Smashed-out windows
and a torch-lit mob.

is the sun going down
on summer,
a national tribute
to the American worker.

is the glow of a burned-out
Pullman car,
a riot quelled
by American bullets.