'They wear in they wear out'

“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.