I

Days like this, have to work harder. Muscles

stiff as earth and toes numb to shovels’ bite.

 

Rolled an industrial heater beneath tarp, blue as heaven

should be; collected for coffee and prayed dirty jokes-

 

Carpenter’s Carnival, four foot tall tent with open bar

and naked midget women dancing in fresh mud-

 

Keeping warm is easy as finding that Jackhammer bit

buried beneath ice-covered Virginian sandstone,

 

dug for twelve inch block foundation that wore

gloves down to bone when hauled around the site.

 

Shame gravel doesn’t shovel like sand, with bodies like

frozen backhoe gas lines and broken bucket teeth.

 

Legs beg level earth rest, load of lumber,

sound of eight inch gun nails piercing plywood.

 

Keeping warm is simple as keeping hours penciled

in the van’s frozen steel innards on the way home.

Reviews

[Emily B]

you have something, something we don't find too ofen iin these pages

welcome

[MuSe Ampoule]

I read three and had to come here to see. This is a powerful, blue-collar write..the working man, struggles but without him foundations wouldn't be laid. We owe a great deal to the struggles of he who works so hard. Fighting the cold is like fighting oppressive duties....they exist and we can only find occasional comfort. Great work.

[Coyote Poetry]

A powerful poem. I like the feel of real life and struggle. Fighting the cold with hard work been the tool of man for many centuries. A strong ending to a powerful poem and story. A excellent poem.
Coyote