We Install a Sump Pump on (What Used To Be) a Holiday (Take 4)

Horsetail is a type of weed; it never tires
Of itself. Make your big hands useful, and un-
Screw this greedy pipe. Second of all,
Habit and opinion failed to teach you;
Holly’s not a weed. Go toss it in the waste
Bin with your pride. They love mechanics,

Angels do. On PBS, they say the past is always
On the move. Well, you’re my engineer;
The past is time’s hypotenuse, right, dear?
When the coffee’s finished brewing, pour some
In my little cup from Silver Falls. The power
And waywardness of that place remind me

How every little bit helps. Remember at
Our wedding, when your friend said, ‘People
Aren’t that dumb,’ and my abuela said,
‘Boy is he dumb’? I thought of that today…
Don’t just stand there, like a very scientific man;
The future’s leaking, from the pantry to the chantry!

Jake Sheff is a pediatrician in Oregon and veteran of the US Air Force. He’s married with a daughter and a whole lot of pets. Poems of Jake’s are in Radius, The Ekphrastic Review, Crab Orchard Review, The Cossack Review and elsewhere. He won 1st place in the 2017 SFPA speculative poetry contest and a Laureate’s Choice prize in the 2019 Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest. Past poems and short stories have been nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology and the Pushcart Prize. His chapbook is Looting Versailles (Alabaster Leaves Publishing).