Maddox Table

The legs of Maddox kitchen tables

My whole life I twisted on a lathe
In a foreman's torrent, my first English was
"Faster boy if you want your pay"

Barking commands loud and simple
We could all obey

Then I was forever pulling slivers
Rubbed the sawdust always deeper in my eye
Varnish vapor that could linger
On my skin, it held tight
The whine of spinning blades
Still echoes to bother my sleep at night

See that oxen stamped dead center
On the letterhead of the company mail
For decades, a spitting image
Of the animal I portrayed
At Maddox table a yoke was carved
For my neck

Sun through the window oil spattered
And in mason jars tricked plenty seeds to thrive
The standing joke around the shop
Was with my green thumb anything'd grow
My part was to laugh
Show an ornery jig
had cut it at the knuckle bone

See that oxen trade mark
Burned Into every stick of furniture from horn to tail
For decades, a spitting image
Of the animal, I portrayed
At Maddox table a yoke was carved
For my neck
Was tailor made

Oh, my Dolly was a weak, not a burdened girl
Treat her to a piece of vaudeville
A Wintergarden moving picture show

Bemus Point
on July Sundays, by trolley we'd go

To your benefit we'll strike a bargain
With the waving fist of a union man

Not just for smokes, spirits, candy and cologne
But for automobile keys, cash in the bank
And the deed on a place called home