Photograph of Rucker Kelly Sitting on the Front Porch
BY ROBERT PENICK
That’s my life, too:
Trying to look presentable
after toiling in a
factory of stink.
Looking hopeful
in my mid-forties.
We both tried hard,
you and I,
at the wheel, the plow,
the packing house and
house of correction.
And we worked
like the desperate,
and we loved
like slaves until
our defective hearts
overtook us.
We were not survived.
