[ Poetry for Labor Day: The working-class persists, survives, says
California poet Lita Kurth; but it sure isn’t easy. ]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE
HEAVY WORK
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Lita Kurth
September 1, 2023
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_ Poetry for Labor Day: The working-class persists, survives, says
California poet Lita Kurth; but it sure isn’t easy. _
,
Heavy Work
By Lita Kurth
Cut a straight line
through concrete
Hold that
machine with muscled arms
Let it throb, whine
and grind
Cool it
with a hose
Now hack it
with a pick-axe
Jar every muscle
in your back
arms
and fists
Hoist a sledgehammer
make a small quake
through vertebrae
that someone sitting on a porch can feel
a dozen feet away
Lift a chunk of concrete
twelve inches wide
five inches deep
Lift again
again
Don’t curse
the muscles along your spine
that know you’re fifty
Feel the rasp of rock
on tender
inner arm
hands
already tough as hooves
Carry concrete rock
to wheelbarrow
lift and drop
balance the barrow
full of chunks
Don’t grunt
Roll it
Lift the handles
higher
higher
till the concrete budges, slides, falls
rattles, raises dust
Eat that dust
for twenty or thirty
more loads
Clear an area
seventy-two
by three feet
Pause for Pepsi
don’t complain
work four hours straight
Tee shirt wet in front
wet in back
Thank God
for cloud cover
Pack the hose
on the side of the truck
heavy-duty extension cords
back in their iron pocket
Fold the check
And put it in your shirt
start the engine
this is
what it takes
this is
work
Lita Kurth, MFA- Rainier Writers Workshop (PLU) has received multiple
Pushcart and Best of the Net nominations for fiction and Creative
Nonfiction. “This is the Way We Wash the Clothes,” (CNF) won the
Diana Woods Memorial Award (_Lunchticket_). She is co-founder of San
Jose’s literary reading series, Flash Fiction Forum and teaches at
De Anza College and in private workshops. A member of the Working
Class Studies Association, she frequently presents at their
conferences.
* Poetry
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* Labor Day poetry
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