Summer Work

at dawn my knees creak
lugging dirt, woodchips from
here to there

up the ladder, heavy bundles of shingles
hot roof mixing tar and sweat
remove the old, replace with new

displacing paint chips, sweep, collect
leaning, squinting, coating
new layers and years in the camp pool

pushing back and forth
taking the top of each grass blade
stuffing in a bag, piling together

cutting pulling nailing
lifting bending rearranging
dirt rock metal wood

forces through distances in exact proportion
to the energy spent plus sweat exerted
changing the world in the sun
on foot-pound at a time