That's entertainment

I ran across this poem from six years ago; it showed up in a Facebook memory and I'd forgotten I'd written it. It was a response to a poetry prompt by Kelly Belmonte at All Nine.

That's entertainment

I’m looking at this fence,
and all the planks and posts,
and I’m looking at this bucket
of whitewash,
and I’m having myself a pondering
of trying to make it look easy,
make it look fun, like
chasing chickens or
pulling pigtails,
so I start whistling,
and I start singing,
and sure enough
if it looks like entertainment
they will come. They all
click “like” and add an emoji,
grab a brush and start slopping
that whitewash on, while I head
down to the quiet creek with Huck
to catch me some fish,
smoke some tobacco,
tell some stories,
and rest my eyes.

 

Photograph by Terence Raper via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

The life of Samuel Johnson’s servant – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.

 

On a Train Through Murray Country at Sunset – poem by Lucas Smith at The Sprawl of Quality.

 

“The Mower to the Glow-Worms,” poem by Andrew Marvell – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.