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  • Skills
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Skills

Tom Leonard

inventing jobs
teaching the skills

of applying for jobs

—-

one of millions
training

to acquire the skills
to apply for a job

—–

not out of a job
but training

to apply for a job
and to be in a job

efficiently

——-

co-operating with management
competing with colleagues

learning the ropes

Tom Leonard

from access to the silence (etruscan books, 2004)

Reproduced by permission of the author.

Tags:

competition everyday life irony language modernity National Poetry Day 2008 poems on postcards power and control skill society work

About this poem

Skills National Poetry Day postcard 2008

This poem was reproduced on a postcard for National Poetry Day 2008. Eight poetry postcards are published each year by the Scottish Poetry Library to celebrate National Poetry Day and are distributed throughout Scotland to schools, libraries and other venues. The theme for 2008 was work. You can find out more about National Poetry Day in our National Poetry Day pages, where you’ll also find resources to go with the poems.

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Tom Leonard reading at the microphone

Tom Leonard1944 - 2018

Born in Glasgow, Tom Leonard was best known for poetry written in the urban speech of that city. This, and his seminal critical writings, have had a major impact on attitudes to language and writing in Scotland, and beyond.
More about Tom Leonard

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