by Jessica Whipple

A man coaxes a dresser to stand up
from a schematic on his workbench.

A woman snips peonies.
She rights their heavy heads
in a jar on her dining room table.
What makes them beautiful
is too much for them to bear.

And possibly the most direct route to upright
is the miracle of corn and soybeans
standing in ripples on this Pennsylvania land.
Three draft horses move as one to wake the earth,
hitching gear jangling as if to say,
“Get up, take up your mat, and walk.”

Photo by Ahmed Gamal on Unsplash

“Work/Life” was previously published in Funicular magazine, Vol. 4, Issue 3.