[Max Goodman]

I agree that the poetry here is in the title. And the current one feels strong. Waking, eating, and sleeping aren't usually done with any goal in mind, toward any end, but, of course, they do inevitably move us toward our ends, our deaths.

Would a single stanza make the point more strongly?

It wouldn't, I think, make it any less strongly. And the shorter the poem, the more likely a reader is to focus on the title. Piet Hien's Grooks come to mind as operating similarly. [Having looked at some of my favorites, I see that the Grooks probably don't give a helpful model. I'll leave the observation here, though. A brief poem whose meaning/poetry is primarily in the title feels like a genre I recognize--even if the Grooks aren't it-- and the briefer such a poem, the better/clearer.]

I don't agree that Duggan's poem has a narrower focus, or that Dolly Parton's song covers Duggan's ground. Seems to me the song focusses narrowly on one aspect of the work world while both poems explore a general meaninglessness of life.

FWIW.