Done this way long before machines
before even the Ur-Nammu law code
epic of Gilgamesh
Pharaoh Djoser’s Step Pyramid at Saqqara
Kings and Chronicles of the Tanakh
Greek mathematics and mechanics
I know this is archaic labor protocol
because
simplicity
abundant human labor
lash and command
serfs convicts war-prisoners
Hebrews Africans Chinese Irish Slavs
our county 1850s Virginia slaves
start by digging a hole
for erecting a hut
to hold up wicker woven wall baffling
center beam of a pitched roof
fishing weirs
frame crates filled with stones for tidal dam
wharf pilings double half hitch to boats
launch wars
secure catapult pedestals to the ground for Alexander
pole barns for harvest storage
protection from weather
and predator for horses cattle and goats
fences for land division
corner markers
royal engineers in India discover Pythagoras’ theorem
and it works.
Trim of limbs a straight tree
cut to lengths of purpose
we use 4 inch by 6 foot locust posts for line fencing
60 pounds each
6 inch by 8 foot for gates
80 pounds each
pressure treated with waterborne copper naphthenate
to slow rot thwart insects
light green tint painterly water color wash
disqualifies fields as organic
dig with spade shovel
bare hands will do
loosen rocks with a lever wood stick iron staff
set rocks no bigger than fist aside
hole twice as wide as the post
a third deep as long
position post in center of hole
around it add in a mix
small and not-so-small rocks and dirt
not sand
in a layer.
Tamp
tamp
tamp
a stiff rod blunt end
we use 2×4 wood studs
as tall as we in labor
tighten core
hold with two hands
gloves shield against splinters
two-thirds up the length
high
raise
drive
down
with upper body strength
the rod upon the composite
feel shock travel through your arms
ricochet into shoulders
sweat even under insulated winter clothes
compress around the post
another layer
tamp
tamp
repeat procedure again
until fill is firm around the post
to last fifty years.
With practice two men set one post
an hour’s task
a hundred posts more fence a small field
this is the ancient unit cost of harvest
when calculating yield.
Ron Tobey grew up in north New Hampshire, USA, and attended the University of New Hampshire, Durham. He has lived in Ithaca NY, Pittsburgh PA, Riverside CA, Berkeley CA, and London UK. He and his wife now live in West Virginia, where they raise cattle and keep goats and horses. Ron writes, from personal experience, poetry of place, cries and crises, and the world of work. His poems have appeared in Constellate (UK), Prometheus Dreaming, Fishbowl Press Poetry, Truly U Review, Nymphs, Line Rider Press, Bonnie’s Crew (UK), Broadkill Review, The Cabinet of Heed (UK), and The Failure Baler (UK). Poems are forthcoming in Better Than Starbucks, Truly U Review, and 3 Moon (Canada).
Twitter handle @Turin54024117