Erika Koenig-Workman

Trust in the Song


To trust in the song of a bird 


First tumble into stark reality

friends post photos of aborted babies

father forwards unsavoury family details


Marineworker’s Union No 1 welcomes a woman welder for 30 years she knows the language dispatch says there is no work for 14 months 


At the shipyard I am like a fish out of water


While she is cussing and swearing I put my life in her hands we drive down Commercial she tells me stories of work while welding with men


On the way home on transit and train a sea of humanity is beaten down by life on planet earth there I join in the throng