Shim

Squat in the road, watching 
one of the handymen 
try to attach a board to the awning 
where rotten wood has been cut away. 
He can’t seem to get the angle, & 

the shim keeps slipping  
from behind, falling 
to slap him lightly in the face 
like a blown kiss from up close 
or strands of golden pollen. 

Isn’t life like that? 
Reach for something higher 
only to lose our grip, 
see it come back at us 
as if taunting? We go on, 

one hand holding 
what the other can’t quite hammer 
into place. The second 
handyman laughs in deep gulps, 
having witnessed this scene before  

as in a dream of his inadequacies 
like showing up naked 
for a history exam 
when all he knows involves  
math, physics, gravity. 

ACE BOGGESS

Ace Boggess is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Escape Envy. His writing has appeared in the Indiana Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Notre Dame Review, Harvard Review, and other journals. An ex-con, he lives in Charleston, West Virginia, where he writes and tries to stay out of trouble. His seventh collection, Tell Us How to Live, is forthcoming in 2024 from Fernwood Press.