Cold Wire

Painting by Nelson Boren

Cold Wire


I been out here with him all day settin’ posts,
Diggin’, swearin’, an’ whackin’ my thumb…..
I stapled my glove to th’ fifth wire back there,
An’ th’ backs of my legs is gone numb.
Is there some fool reason he waited this late
To start in to auger these holes?
It’s an accepted fact that cold wire’s harder
To stretch out between th’ poles.
Th’ damned pickup’s died at least 16 times….
It’s always cantankrus in winter.
It’ll be plumb dark before we hit the house an’
I’ll betcha we’ll eat a cold dinner.
He’s bitched* and complained, th’ danged old coot,
My ears feel like they’ve been hammered,
“Do this, do that, is that th’ way you was taught?”
All day, he’s gabbled an’ yammered.
Aye, god, though, we finished our half-mile today,
An’ th’ dog ain’t been nailed to th’ fence….
The tailgate’s done shut tight on th’ tools,
Maybe by mornin’, he’ll have some sense.
So I’ll stick out my tongue an’ tell that ol’ fence
‘A-di-os’…. put this truck in reverse……
But, Old Man, if you call me “girlie” once more,
T ‘morra, yer hide gets nailed up first.

© Copyright Byrd Woodward