the same guy used to shine his shoes
with the cloth that was goin into the kettle
while the kettle was heatin up
one day it looped round his foot
lifted him right up
his foot went through the eye
and got stuck in the rollers
with five hundred pounds pressure
the water wasn’t hot
and his leg didn’t go through the rollers
but still he hurt his foot
his arms his ribs his head
he was out of work for two months
how’d it happen?
gee
I don know
must’ve stepped on it somehow
he gets back out of the hospital
and comes back to work
he’s loading kettle three
when Walter and me come round the corner
we see him tryin the same thing again
shinin his shoes with the movin cloth
Walter says to him
out the fuckin door
and real quick
he was on the outside looking in
 

Michael Casey
Copyright © 1996 by Michael Casey. Reprinted with permission of the author. “Dye House” first appeared in Millrat by Michael Casey (Adastra Press, 1996).

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Copyright © 2001 by The Bridge Review: Merrimack Valley Culture and University of Massachusetts Lowell. All Rights Reserved for compilation. Rights revert to individual contributors following publication. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher and individual contributor.