on the day the roofers came by Wanda Morrow Clevenger

          for Stan Barker

I don’t write on
days when I hear
a friend up
and dies––too soon
and cliché 
the roofers pound
I expect light fixtures
to crash down
walls to fall in

gray shingles drop
are gathered
away
ZZ Top’s “Legs”
throbs from
an open van
a compressor makes
an intermittent frizz

I drink honey tea
I read social sympathy
I pay bills
the washer/dryer
agitates/spins
I chase dust

tomorrow
the roofers
will pound the last
fresh shingles on – I’ll
look up and pretend
all is put to right 



Wanda Morrow Clevenger is a Carlinville, Illinois, native who will relatively soon be a Kansas resident. She has published over 300 pieces of work in 122 print and online publications. Her debut book This Same Small Town in Each of Us released in 2011. She likes betta fish and orchids, both of which she has repeatedly managed to kill.