Issue > Poetry

Tiffany Lynn Collier

Tiffany Lynn Collier grew up in southern Indiana, graduated from Indiana University and currently resides in Chicago with her husband. She is working on a collection of poetry as well as young adult fiction.

Saw Dust

I wanna smell cut wood.
It makes me think of Dad and that kid
who was never tall enough for anything.

I wanna hear the shrill screech of a saw
and the dull drop
of another two-by on the pile.

"That outta do it" he'd say.
Straightening to smear the dust off his face
with the back of a hand.

And they were wonderful.
Scarred, stained, sun-spotted and used.
Here now, I look down at my own,
And I don't think I'm anybody's hero.

Not anyone can take a pile of boards
and make the warmest place north of Tennessee—
or me any happier, just by gettin' to sweep.