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Literacy
Paul Hostovsky

The roofer is not a good communicator.
He doesn’t tell me when he’s coming.
He misspells debris (leaving off the s)
on the handwritten estimate he gives me.
He does not inspire confidence.

But the roof turns out beautiful, the debris
gets cleared away, and the house
with its new chapeau never looked so
sophisticated. His sign, Kilraine & Son Roofing,
in a corner of my front yard like a signature,

topples in the wind. So I put it back
facing the house. He pulls up in his pickup,
shakes his head and repositions the sign
perpendicular to the house. So people
driving by can see it. Duh. And read it.

—
Paul Hostovsky’s latest book of poems is Mostly (FutureCycle Press, 2021). His poems have won a Pushcart Prize, two Best of the Net Awards, and have been featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, and The Writer’s Almanac.

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Legacy by Robin Greene
Where Is the Saint If Not in the Slightest of Things? by Paulann Petersen

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