winterworks at the creek
at some point your hand just goes numb
as the winter water filters through your gloves
and your fingers dive for your armholes.
still there is work to do if you expect
to keep that fence, your yard, your house
so you swap out the rake for a shovel
and we dig a sloppy, nasty, narrow ditch
to divert ice melt from the foundation -
yet again. of course we could hire it done
but I hate to break it to you (knock
that ice aside, won't you?) we are the people
the yellow pages warned us about
Kathy Bowman, Joseph, Oregon
