portrait of the carpenter as an old man awating the elusive plumber
                                 - for Leland the plumber

sometimes
when you have grandchildren
the best thing you can do is to sleep
near your tools on a thin mat
on the floor of an old house
with the walls open and floor ripped
up awaiting the elusive plumber
    (to say nothing of the plasterman
    electrician
    laborers
    insulation guys
    roofers
    painters and the grandmother
    tending the cookpot through the chaos),
attempting to turn an address into a home
as if you were born to do this, nail
by holy nail.


Published in the Oregon Humanities