Both Sides: 1
It isn’t rational
how much I love this job
building the big things.
Little reasons that may mean nothing
to you, like being out in the weather
until weather becomes a character in my life
having its rough days
and it’s great ones, like the rest of us.
Simple things like feeling my body strong
and graceful doing the things
other carpenters do, performing
the magic of hammer and nail
building something, together
that will last for the rest of our lives.
Little things.
Both Sides: 2
It isn’t rational
how much I hate this job,
the terrible loneliness, sobs
stuck in my throat, the men
who watch my every move
as if to catch me
imperfect. They punish me daily.
How I hate those times of hiding
I’m a woman, the times a thought pops up
uncensored, when when I’m tired
or feeling good, an unmanly thought,
like the time I suggested potluck
for lunch that time they liked it.
Other times they hate me
for reminding them of difference.
Those times I am wax melting
in the heat of their hatred.
Some gentle man once told me
every hand has two sides.
I show only one.
~from Turning Left To The Ladies (Palimpsest Press, 2009)
