Lumber Run

LUMBER RUN

They know what they’re doing, putting

the box of shims by the door on your way

out. This isn’t their first time watching 

someone set out to build something

with the long afternoon of their life, 

that slight swagger behind the lumber

cart, bright denial for someone to help

load it in the back of the truck. 

Their “see you soon” is weathered, 

pressure-treated from the footsteps

of those who always come limping 

back. What they don’t carry, though, 

for all their expertise kept stacked on pallets

in the back, is just the piece you’ll need

when the porch light flicks on.

That one belongs to you already,

the scrap in your very own  garage

you kept out of a vague intuition

that what solves the problem is cast aside

and never carried on the shelves.