Furniture
for mama

all day Saturday your hands
have been at this
...
a crooked roll-top desk in the driveway
expensive wood
poorly kept
...
hard nailing and the saw
has humped your shoulders
wrenched your collar off-key
...
your knuckles shine with blisters
like the marks of kisses
...
for this you leave your wedding ring
on the top porch step
...
stray hairs from your ponytail get caught
in the varnish pot
then waver in the wind, catch the light like
starbursts
...
even as the dust from sanding paints
a halo around you two on the asphalt
...
I have never so envied wood