“Jake takes over from Otto, slubs mortar onto brick, clumps brick
onto mortar.
Does this. Does it again. Wears out.
Topples over: No pause.
Rene appears. Homer collapses. Angelo springs up. No break in the
rhythm.
slub clump slub clump
They wear in they wear out.
They lay the bricks that build the mills
that shock the Blackstone River into yellow froth.
-- From “The Tragedy of Bricks,’’ by Galway Kinnell
The Blackstone River runs from Worcester, Mass., to Pawtucket, R.I.
