I'm Late

I'm late

I'm late

Behind

I must catch up

Promised a poem a week

And I am at least one

Maybe two

In arrears

Arrears

A word I learned

Years ago

When first I was

A wet behind the ears

Caseworker in

Public assistance

Lehigh County

A long way from home

Arrears

Behind in payment

Rent

Utilities

Clients in jeopardy

Of losing apartments

Services essential

Arrears

Part of my ongoing education

Just a tiny portion of

What I learned

In the office

Under the supervision of

Veteran supervisor

Miss Steckel

Who knew the manual by heart

Quoted it to me

Day in and day out

Just part of what I learned

On the streets of Allentown

Before Billy Joel

Wrote his song

Arrears and paramour

Another word I learned

Not a word we used

In the South

When I was growing up

We had other words

But I learned it as part

Of the humor of dictation

Dictating information received

During home visits

Back in the offices

At 11 N. Seventh Street

A caseworker dictated

The word paramour

In regard to a client

As part of the required

6 months redetermination

Of eligibility

Dictated paramour

Into one of those machines

I hated

Caseworker said

Client had a paramour

A lover who may have been

Contributing to the

Household income

Which of course could be

Cause for concern

A reason for discontinuance

Of assistance or at least a

Reduction in the monthly check

From the great state of

Pennsylvania

Paramour

Spoken into the microphone

But when typed into the record

By a member of the steno pool

Listening through earphones became

Power mower

Paramour

Power mower

Evoking laughter from

Overworked

Overwhelmed

Nearly burned out

Caseworkers and secretaries

Weary from trying to follow

The regulations the rules

Laid down in the manual

Laughter

A sort of gallows humor

Or prison wit

From the captives of a

Dehumanizing system

That perpetuates

The very ills

It seeks to relieve

Paramour

Not enough love here

Power mower

Not enough power here

Always in arrears

Overdue in debt

Just good folks

Clients and caseworkers

Doing the best we could

Under the circumstances

Trying to survive

Trying to make a living

In the late 1960s

Before Billy wrote that song

There we were

"Filling out forms

Waiting in Allentown

For a world we never found"

I'm late

I'm late

Christie Smith Stephens

July 7, 2011

With gratitude for the clients

and caseworkers and supervisors

who taught me about life and systems.

God bless them!