“Some Words for the Week”

Digging a hole

in the dry mountain dirt

for a mailbox post

because the other one

rotted out and fell over

somebody walks by

and says

that’s a deep hole

for a mailbox

and I say

I want to make it last

we are even adding a metal pole

with four inch reflective numbers

as per fire department request

since the wood on the post

may burn long before they arrive

I wonder who put in

the old post

what conversations they had

with passersby

if they thought their work

would last forever

or at least not rot out

in twenty years or so

if they thought of fire

if they took short breaks

to write down poems

I dig my hole three feet deep

bowl out the bottom

had the client buy two bags

of quick set concrete

I think my post will be here

until this valley burns

or even after that

depending on when help arrives

and I wonder

what will be left of the world

when this post

falls into nothing

and is replaced

by the next generation

of handyman

I can’t be sure

but I need to get back to work

and so I put my thoughts aside

and get my hands

back into the dirt

Alexander Shalom Joseph is a writer from Gilpin County. He has two published books and one more forthcoming in the Fall of 2022. For more information and to subscribe to Alexander’s Newsletter go to alexandershalomjoseph.com