John Mitchell

December 13, 2025

Poem: Day Labor

Day Labor

His mud spattered black jeans
hug the shaft of his leather boots
as he stands with one hand on his hip
one hand on the pump, filling up
his two door square body truck, dented 
and paint scratched from a thousand jobs
and the forgotten miles between them.
He knocks his boots against steel
running boards, red clay falling off
in oddly shaped clumps
from a job site still hanging on,
little bits and pieces of work he’s finished
at least for the day. I roll forward to fill up,
and see his truck bed stacked
with wooden planks and a red ribbon
waving from the end as he moves
out of my way.

About John Mitchell

I can trace my love for reading and writing poetry back to my earliest days listening to my parents read the Psalms to me as a child. And to my parents, I owe a great debt.