You’re a what?
           - question from a credit manager

In my other lives, I’ve been a sheepskin pickler,
A bowling-ball engraver, a feather washer,
Banana dispatcher, and wild cherry dipper.
I’ve been a bologna lacer and beeswax bleacher.
I’ve balanced fans, dried germs, and dipped balloons,
Served as a bellyman and a skull grinder
And saved my bacon once as a butt presser.

I’ve tackled even more mysterious Labors:
I’ve been a burning foreman, an apron scratcher,
Bar creaser, chill man, backside polisher,
Flyaway clerk, head chiseler, lingo cleaner,
Crotch joiner, hardness tester, and beat-out boy,
So don’t go thinking, because I say I’m a poet,
Sir, I don’t know serious work pays off.