Jessica R. Barnes, 10/16/2017

Current Occupation: mother, writer, teacher, scholar, musician, innkeeper
Former Occupation: corn detassler, musician, packer, customer service representative, cook, grounds keeper, reporter, editor
Contact Information: Grown from a wooded valley in rural Wisconsin and driven a perch 7,000 feet in the sky – Flagstaff, Arizona USA – Jessica has taken notes along the way and wants to share them with you. Her current occupations (a telling word) include mothering, writing, making music, teaching geography, and welcoming travelers. She does these things as magnifying glasses to examine the scraps of humanity we share. She has long been preoccupied with how the work we do for our own pleasure fits into the economy, her doctoral research was on how crafters' work fits into lives and livelihoods.  

 

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A Chance

 

I’ve worked in a factory for three weeks.

It makes me want to play the lottery.

 

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Robots take my job

 

Robots take my job,

Don’t let me be here twenty years on,

Let’s just end this drudgery.

 

Nostalgic cogs in the machine,

Don’t turn me on, won’t set you free,

Maybe I’m too bourgeoisie.

 

Don’t ship this work across the sea,

Don’t wish this hell on anybody,

Solidarity for people being free.

 

Machines of love and grace,

Watch over while I find my place,

A living well economy.

 

I could be loving you all day,

Or writing songs or play and play,

Robot is better at that, you say.

 

Til robots strike for minimum wage,

Til robots strike for weekend days,

Write ones and zeros poetry.