A celebration for the workers
     who labor every day
for the American Dream:
     blue-collar workers lead the way.

From the callow youth at the bottom
     to the foreman and lot halfway,
it doesn’t matter your profession:
     blue-collar workers lead the way.

All tired, poor, huddled masses
     waking up before dawn of day,
yearning to breathe free:
     blue-collar workers lead the way.

On the first Monday in September,
     put the tools and bias away,
unite under lamplight and liberty:
     blue-collar workers lead the way.

Photo by Museums Victoria on Unsplash

A chant poem is a rhythmic poem with no fixed form, but in which one or more lines are repeated over and over. The examples in The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms, edited by Ron Pudgett, show two examples where the repeated lines alternate with standard poetic lines, almost like musical lyrics. In the article “Learning the Chant Poem” at PoetryFoundation.org, multiple varied examples are given, one of which is the blitz poem I posted a few days ago in Gone to Happiness. Finally, Tsunami Chant by Wang Ping, published on Poets.org, is a free verse poem that repeats general patterns more than repeating lines. Which of these is the chant poem? I’d argue all fall under that heading, though they might have a sub-heading (i.e., chant > blitz).

Labor Day celebrates the American blue-collar worker. This is a reminder of who that is.

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