Ballad of the Gig Worker – A poem for Parsha Shemot

Now go and get to work! You will not be given any straw, but you must deliver your quota of bricks!” ~ Exodus 5:18

This one’s for the ride-share driver
pouring their time into moving people
from one place to the other –

their car a commodity –
their gasoline provided on their own dime.
This one’s for the teachers

draining their bank accounts
to make sure pencils are
on their students’ desks.

This one’s for the gig worker –
health insurance – an expensive dream
in this greatest country where

all the other less great countries
wouldn’t dream of charging you
for a bandaid.

This one’s for the bill-payers –
the ones who count their own beans
the ones who compare toothpaste prices

the ones who think only rich people
go out to eat. This one’s for the ones
who think they saw the word mortgage

in a fantasy novel –
who see the word rent
as a punishment.

This one’s for the ones who
have to gather their own straw.
These treasure cities

aren’t going to build themselves –
these bricks – our own burden to make
out of nothing.

Rick Lupert, a poet, songleader and graphic designer, is the author of 28 books including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion.” Visit him at www.JewishPoetry.net