Hammer and Nail by Laura Rodley

 

Image | Tom Fisk

Hammer and Nail 

Crossing the Mississippi in A minor,

just a short chord, a minor string, 

one of the tributaries leading 

to the Mississippi in A major,

the wide treble, the bridges

that span her operatic girth,

so many men girding her loins,

straightening the whalebone steel, 

the concrete of her corset’s stays, 

so many men suspended on planks 

held only by ropes and prayer  

hammering their dreams into

the steel and wood bridge’s sides,

pressing their hands against

the bridge’s concrete back,

leaving no handprints,

just the embodied whole

of the mighty bridge

corseting the Mississippi,

the men’s dreams of returning

to their homeland, now pieces of confetti. 

© Laura Rodley

Laura Rodley

Pushcart Prize winner Laura Rodley's latest books are Turn Left at Normal by Big Table Press, Counter Point by Prolific Press and Ribbons and Moths Poems for Children, winner of Children's Nonfiction International Book Award and medalist for Moonbeam Book Award for Children's Poetry. 

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