Ditch Diggers - Poem by Eric Borden
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- čas přidán 9. 09. 2024
- Ditch Diggers
Poem by: Eric Borden
Visit our website at: ericbordenpast...
For centuries, poetry has been categorized by genre. We all learned about different types of poetry in grade school. Haiku, limerick, ballad, etc. Some people have made the mistake of trying to categorize the poetry written and recited by Eric Borden as “cowboy poetry.” It fits to some degree, until you realize he isn’t a cowboy. More on that later.
Eric worked many years as a diesel mechanic and has worked in and around the construction industry for the last ten years. He was a refrigeration unit mechanic for a trucking company for four years, worked as a field mechanic for an excavation contractor for three years and turned wrenches for Freightliner of Olathe for five years. He drove a boom truck for United Rentals Trench Safety of Kansas City for nine years, delivering and placing street plates, trench boxes and shoring systems. Seeking new challenges, Eric went to work for Belger Cartage Service of Kansas City in 2016. He is a member of the Local 101 Operators’ Union and operates heavy equipment. Eric has an incredibly strong work ethic and an even stronger admiration for others that work hard at what they do.
For Eric, writing poetry began in grade school. He has had the honor of reciting his poems at his closest friends’ weddings, and the bittersweet honor of reciting poems at the funerals of some of those dearest to him.
Eric’s life experiences, his experience on jobsites and service bays and constant daydreaming about the life, land and people he loves feed the content of the poetry he writes and recites. I shouldn’t say “writes”, as he never writes his poetry down. Whether on break at work or over a campfire, numerous dozens of Eric’s poems are recited to captivated listeners from his memory. I can say with absolute certainty that something would be lost in the delivery if they were simply written down, or recited by someone else.
The subject matter of Eric’s poems varies widely, and there is more than one poem for every occasion. While on a lunch break in a shady spot on a jobsite he might tell you a poem about hard working people that make the world tick. When talking about family he might recite “Dancin’ Angel”, a poem written about his late grandma. Amongst friends and beers, he might recite a poem about a night at a bar that will make you laugh out loud. When turning forty, he addressed the issue with a poem called “Conversation with Forty”, in which essentially lets that birthday know that it is just a number and is of little concern.
Eric was encouraged to enter cowboy poetry competitions by the late Trey Allen, a renowned cowboy poet and friend. Eric competed in the Kansas Cowboy Poetry contest and the National Cowboy Poetry rodeo. While watching Eric recite poems at what was my first time at a cowboy poetry contest, I noticed one thing that Eric had known all along. The average competitor spoke poems about days long past…Cattle drives and life on the prairie. Eric just didn’t fit that mold. He didn’t even have a cowboy hat. Donna Pittman, news anchor for Channel 9 News in Kansas City, referred to him as a “pasture poet” while interviewing him on his land. For many of us, including Eric, that was the perfect way to categorize him and his work.
Born and raised in Kansas, Eric resides on acreage outside Drexel, Missouri with his wife Sara and sixteen year-old son Russell. He can often be found riding dirt bikes with his son, cruising the gravel roads on his dual sport motorcycle, doing side work digging ponds or relaxing by his fire pit.
Written by Aaron Wingert, life-long friend of Eric
Great Job, Trades have been very good to me and my sons. Blue Collar keeps the world moving
Local 318 operator! Love that video!
As a landscaper I didn’t go to college and at the end of every day or end of every job I’m always happy to be a “ditch digger” I wouldn’t have chosen any other way of life
Eric. This resonates so much. Appreciate all you and your fellow operators do.
IUOE Local 12. Proud operator that started as a ditch digger
Grew up in a family of farmers. And well this is poem is not about those who plow fields. But it still instilles pride me and my families work. Nicely done sir.
This is just amazing I'm at work on my break a union charpenter and I got chills the first time I heard this
AMEN ! 54 Years as a Crane Operator.
Skilled labor local 663, proud to be a ditch digger
270! All the way! Let's do it 👊
From one ditch digger to another , I love it!
This was shown to our class last semester during a recruitment presentation. Struck a chord with me then, so I figured I'd watch again on the day I submitted my last final. Keep diggin, diggers. Ill fix them when you break them. Proud mechanic here.
I've watched this WELL over 100x and shared it with all walks of life. It never gets old seeing, reading, and experiencing people's response to this poem. I watch literal goosebumps come over people, tears, and laughter of love on how well this brings the reality of the respect and love we ALL must have for our "Ditch Diggers". They're hero's, no different than our teachers, firefighters, military, and police officers. This message is a game changer that can and WILL help bridge our country together on how much we need all walks of life to keep our great country moving forward.
God Bless you Eric Borden!
This song makes me even prouder to be a blue collar worker
What a fantastic video. Well spoken Eric! You show the true meaning of the great industry in which so many of us work. This has been shown to our entire company, at our recent State of the Company address. It is time to show that great careers can be made in the construction industry. Not everyone wants to go to college. Thank you for your talent and efforts in putting this out!
Hit home! Great poem!
Incredibly under viewed. It’s this mentality, this choice of semantics that could bridge the divide in our nation.
I have a speech into make come November. It’s for the Veterans Resource Center at my college. I would really like to read this poem if I had your permission.
Great poem and video!
7 people have never left their cave, apparently.
Thanks for the compliments. I do not get on here much so I apologize for my late reply.