Winter Work
​
poetry
first published by Underwood Press: True Chili
​Bought things I needed
For ranch work
In Kansas cold
From used ads
Work boots, the ad said
Worn three months
Half-brown and cowboy-style
Like the Texan who sold them
Steel toed and stomp-proof
Water resistant and insulated
The insides sweet
With fabric softener scent
Pipefitter, he said
What do you do?
For work, he meant
So I told him
I’m trying to be a writer,
I said
While trying on his boots
And he smiled
He repeated the words
To himself
Trying to be a writer
A writer, buying his old boots
A writer, he said it again
As though I’d told him
Television game show host, or,
Professional ice skating announcer
Guess I could’ve said,
Cowboy or Ranch Hand
But the writing that winter
Was the hardest work I’d ever done.