All That Work

Beneath the tall thick dome of Appalachian wood
the sticky summer midday gray incites
cicada choral drone as from within
the weathered small house she comes
pressing gently out the rust-hinged screen door
then setting the warped and peeling frame
slowly slowly back to the jamb

With the stub of an ancient broom in hand
she moves on creaking wood porch slats
outwards then down the swayback steps
to trod softly on the dirt a ways

Moist ovals form on the formless drab
tattered dress she wears
beneath her arms and down her back
as she sweeps the dirt
raising clouds of brown
that hover in the hot windless air

Purposefully she rends the ground
smooth and striated with little straw tracks
as dribs and drabs of detritus fly now left
then right
setting leaves a-quiver on dying shrubs
and startling unseen critters into flight
thump and rustle thump and rustle

Then up the road she hears the sputtering
of Doc’s approaching rusted ’54 pickup
that halts in moments there beside the road
with a discordant squeal of brakes
stirring up a passel of dust

Don’t you mess my work now
she says
You see where I swept?

Howdy Lou
he says
He’s on the kitchen floor is that right?

Bout to have his coffee
she says
Broke the cup
last of the set it was

With every step his bulk resounds
as he passes her and crosses up the porch
and as it has been years since he last came
forgettingly he lets the screen door fly
to a firecracker snap
at which a fat brown partridge rises
with a cacophonous wealth of cries
and flies from a side yard thicket west

Damn
she says

She sweeps in rigorous patterns
bringing order to the land
enveloped by a drab dusky cloud
closing softly on the porch
when, as she begins the bottom step,
she draws back at the opening door

Don’t you let that slam now, you hear?
she says

Lou I’m sorry
he says
and he guides the door to a wee tap at the jamb
then joins her on the bottom step

He was gonna apologize
she says

For what Lou?
he says

He never got to say it
and I never got to forgive him

Well I’m mighty sorry
he says
I’m gonna have Charlotte out here
Be a little bit
and she’ll help you take care of things
and get settled best as can be

He never got to say it
she says

He nods and takes painful steps to the truck
revs it up and turns around
heading back to town

In the sooty haze thus stirred up
she shakes her head disgustedly
and mumbles something to herself

All that work
she seems to say

She then begins to sweep again
right back where she started