He drove himself hard,
stealing others’ calls
and speeding the cab
in his own race
against who knows
what or whom.
His immigrant family watched
the desk at the motel
the cab paid for.
Behind the wheel, he complained
about the lack of good help,
maids to change the beds.
Running strong on the high octane
of the American dream, he ran
out of gas and hung himself
in the shower.
Raised in a milltown on Lake Michigan in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, John Peter Beck is a recently retired professor in the labor education program at Michigan State University where he still co-directs a program that focuses on labor history and the culture of the workplace, Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives. His poetry has been published in a number of journals including The Seattle Review, Another Chicago Magazine, The Louisville Review and Passages North among others.