Build, work, sweat,
shovel, dig, haul,
lift and carry,
plant, tend, harvest,
yank the line and
start the motor
sputtering.

Sling asphalt as
the sun burns
your face and
the road cooks
the soles of your feet
right through
your boots.

Box of shingles balanced
on your shoulder, climbing
the ladder rung
by rung.
Nail them down one
after each in
a careful line.

Mud to your knees as
you lay the pipe in
the cold rain.
Arm shoved shoulder deep
into the muck as
you search for the
dropped wrench.

Oil the threader as
the steel coils off in
sharp and shining rings.
Screw on the coupling. Tighten
it down with
the mud caked wrench you
fished from the ditch.

Hot stars fall
from welders above and
slip behind your collar to
leave a scar that
disappears among the
dozens of others
you have earned.

Follow the others and
climb onto the back of
a truck going who
knows where to a
job that pays who
knows what for who
knows how many days.

To haul concrete blocks out
of a field or pull asbestos out
of a basement or haul sheet metal out
of a crumbing factory or pull wire out
of conduit or rip pipes out
of ceilings or knock bricks out
of a wall or clear brush out
of a lot while you stomp snakes to death
with thick boots still caked with mud
and asphalt.

Pocket the greasy bills
they shove into your hand.
Put them in a jar
week by week by
month by year while
you live on tortillas
and beans.

Watch it fill like
a cistern collecting your
sweat and blood and
tears and years that
fall away like teeth
from the mouth
of Abuelito.

When it is full pour it out
to water the tender vine of
your dreams of home and family
and freedom, here in the land of
bloody milk and
honey distilled
from your tears.

And on a day of rest fish
without a license or drive
NOL or drink
one beer too many or gaze
at the wrong woman or look
like a gangbanger and trip
over the law that waits
for you like a
snare for a rabbit
and jerks you up and
out of this life and
robs you of all you
have earned.

Watch as the vine you watered
with your sweat and blood and
tears is torn up
by the roots.