Canned in a plain brown wrapper

CANNED, Booted, bumped, down-sized, fired, forced out, hated, hired, jobless, laid off, let go, out of work, out-sourced, pink-slipped, terminated, sacked, unemployed – a poetry collection 
By Anthony Buccino

The hard-hitting truth about being out of work, the strains that tag along and the sinking boat you feel you're riding in. This collection deals with a difficult subject in a very real way. It's strength is its realness and that is also its greatest weakness. It's not for the faint of heart. A must-have for anyone who deals in human resources, personnel, recruitment, job placement, or has been fired, laid-off and is out of work.

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Hands In Socks - a Live Poetry Reading

EDITOR'S CHOICE - 2008 

Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards, 

Paterson, N.J.

Anthony Buccino reads HANDS IN SOCKS from his future collection CANNED.

HANDS IN SOCKS

He sat on the old couch
his head on the home-made cover of the old pillow
Snoring, mouth open, under the bright Afghan blanket
Aunt Julia knitted,
his forearms poking out in the air and his hands covered 
in a pair of his white cotton socks

Dad’s hands inside those old socks were slathered in Vaseline.
He wanted to soak in Sardo bath oils but it was out of his price range so the old reliable, petroleum jelly, 
filled in the sore cracks on his cold-weathered hands.

He couldn't hold a nail if he wore warm gloves
on those cold New Jersey days to protect 
his leathered hands from splinters and grit.
When it got cold like this,
he longed for inside work
and, on occasion, got some.

So, I watched him snoring, his hands twitching
and his semi-conscious look around 
when his dream was interrupted 
by the feeling of socks on his greasy hands.
He blinked, looked at the socks,
looked at the TV, then me,
and nodded back into his fitful sleep.

I knew he longed for the expensive Sardo
and any good son would have saved up for it.
But I had little compassion for his misery 
– even as I watched it
and never moved to ease his pain.

By Anthony Buccino
2008 Allen Ginsberg Awards – Editor’s Choice (reading version)

Also included in Sixteen Inches On Center 

Ten Minutes After You're Gone

Honorable Mention – 2009 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards

TEN MINUTES  by Anthony Buccino

Ten minutes after you're gone
scavengers raid your old desk.
Who takes the stapler
Who takes the tape
Who splits with the Post-its
and who grabs the letter opener?

Who take the box of staples 
in the drawer with the binder clips?
Who fights over your old pens, 
even the ones that don't work?
Who grabs your office stationery 
and rubber stamp collection,
your used Emory board 
and the good scissors?
Who rifles your drawers for matches,
loose change and one-cent stamps?

Who trashes your kid's picture 
and walks off with the glass frame?
Who grabs the blank white cards
from your old Rolodex?
Who fills your pencil holder 
with salt and pepper packets
and slithers away?

Who takes your broken key chain, 
the open deck of cards
the pocket calculator 
and so many little pieces of junk 
with other companies' names?
Who takes your reference books
and the good dictionary, too?

Wait till they find what you left
behind in the fridge.
Ten minutes after you're gone
no one remembers your name.

-0-

First published in Paterson Literary Review

CANNED
Booted, bumped, down-sized, fired, forced out, hated, hired, jobless, laid off, let go, out of work, out-sourced, pink-slipped, terminated, sacked, unemployed
by Anthony Buccino

You never forget your first time ... fired

Whether it's with a woman or a man, someone you've known for a long, long time or someone you've just met, you'll never forget your first time you get fired. Your first time will be memorable in spite of the many times you'll find yourself trying to forget it. The aftermath of your first time laid-off will stay with, influencing all the decisions you make from that moment forward.

The first time you find yourself out of work, it hits you with surprise, no matter what warning signals you may have seen and put aside as not pertaining to you. After all these years in this same place, you find now it's over.

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Good things about being out of work

As the unemployment in the U.S. hovers at unbelievable, the 14 million people who have been canned, booted, bumped, down-sized, fired, forced out, hated, jobless, laid off, let go, out of work, out-sourced, pink-slipped, terminated, sacked, unemployed, have plenty to worry about. But as bad as it may seem, and as bad as it may actually be, here are a few good things about being out of work:


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CANNED in print and eReaders

CANNED

Booted, bumped, down-sized, fired, forced out, hated, hired, jobless, laid off, let go, out of work, out-sourced, pink-slipped, terminated, sacked, unemployed

Non-rhyming verse about being out of work, the strains that tag along and the sinking boat you feel you're riding in.

This collection deals with a difficult subject in a very real way. It's strength is its realness and that is also its greatest weakness. It's not for the faint of heart.

A must-have for anyone who deals in human resources, personnel, recruitment, job placement, or has been fired, laid-off and is out of work.

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Blog copyright © 2011-2015 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.
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Unsolicited comment

"onto your poetry i LOVE it fixing the roof, hierarchy of the seagulls, tell the wife, the old guys hated me - i could really go on and on anthony. you captured a moment, a feeling and i have not read such raw and real poetry in some time. I know we separated by a few generations (I am 31) but you really capture what is missing from the alleged poets and those who are suspected of being poets that I have any contact with say they are all about. CANNED is a wonderful book that is relevant today tomorrow yesterday, yesteryear - as for me, i will be keeping the copy of CANNED ... in my bag (which I take everywhere with me) so I can re-read it and share with others. I don't usually praise many writers - in fact I think most are self indulgent sots who care nothing about the medium - but this is great work."

And another:

"Your poetry is the best journalism I’ve read in quite some time. I am about halfway through the book (I was reading it over breakfast on my screened porch this morning) and my favorite so far is “Forced Out,” with that spinning wheel – my situation almost exactly."

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Blog copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.
Support this web site, shop at Amazon through this link, thanks
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Check out Anthony Buccino's latest poetry and essay collections as ebooks and on Kindle.
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Carnival
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