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# The Job
- URL: https://poetry101.love/the-job/
- Published: 2023-01-22T01:16:00.000Z
- Updated: 2023-01-24T06:15:19.000Z
- Description: by Dorianne Laux
- Author: Melissa Anderson
- Tags: Dorianne Laux, Poetry Association, September 2026, #Import 2026-11-04 19:11

*for Tobey*

When my friend lost her little finger  
between the rollers of a printing press,  
I hadn’t met her yet. It must have taken  
months for the stump to heal, skin stretched  
and stitched over bone, must have taken  
years before she could consider it calmly,  
as she does now in an airport café  
over a cup of black coffee.  
She doesn’t complain or blame the unguarded  
machine, the noise of the factory, the job  
with its long unbroken hours.  
She simply opens her damaged hand and studies  
the emptiness, the loss  
of symmetry and flesh, and tells me  
it was a small price to pay,  
that her missing finger taught her  
to take more care with her life,  
with what she reaches out  
to touch, to stay awake when she’s awake  
and listen, to pay attention  
to what’s turning in the world.

Laux, Dorianne. [What We Carry](https://www.google.com/books/edition/What%5FWe%5FCarry/2SxaDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&kptab=getbook&ref=poetry101.love). United States, BOA Editions Limited, 2013.

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### Why I chose this poem

It's for the new moon, to set intentions, to be aware of the lessons of loss.