Real Work

Real Work

At the ranch

  We shared a small cottage

    Nestled in the back of a vineyard

      Where old, lopsided crates

          Leaned like weathered cowboys on a fence

There was little money

   for anything but food,

    stolen from the neighbor’s barn

       Which made it taste better

         Stray wild, chickens roasted in fatback

                   Her gnarled weathered hands

                          Handed me a rake

                              A 50 pound gunny sack, too

                                    “I’ll pay you two dollars a bag,

                                     Go rake the walnuts”.

 Looking into the sea of trees, 

It seemed impossible.

 We were students,

It was summer,

We only lasted a day

Reviews

[K. Louis]

"Where old, lopsided crates leaned like weathered cowboys on a fence." Great imagery. I like the experimentation with the formatting.