Carpenter Ants

 

 

            It’s a wobbly porch

            And I have to stand beneath it

            With four-by-four posts

            That move constantly

            To get it supported again

 

            I need a jack

            I need two men

            I need lumber

            I live in poverty and this is all impossible

            So I stand beneath

            My wobbly porch

            And pray to the god of construction and balance

            Not to cave in my cheap head

 

            The joists come off

            Without a hammer

            Just a pull with a strong arm

            And I realize

            When I worked on my roof

            I stood on this

            For support

            With a few hundred pounds

            At my feet

 

            Perhaps because of this

            I overkill with strapping

            And put in too many screws

            And now the posts have

            No play at all

 

            But this is one of the many times

            I could have died

            And if I don’t start writing

            And quit constructing

            One of these times

            The construction god will be pissed at me

            For cutting a hair too thin

            On too many boards

            And smite me as He did once

            With a paddle bit

 

            And when that happens

            You will be reading this

            But until then

            Want to come have some BBQ

            On my new deck?