{"id":891,"date":"2019-02-24T02:01:17","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T02:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/?p=891"},"modified":"2019-02-13T02:43:50","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T02:43:50","slug":"891","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/2019\/02\/24\/891\/","title":{"rendered":"Shovels by Dan A. Cardoza"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dan has an MS Degree in Education. He is the author of three poetry Chapbooks, and a book of fiction titled Second Stories. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Shovels<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tell the salesclerk\nI\u2019m just looking, and like any valued host he says, take your time.  You know where\nto find me. By the way, we have more coming in next week.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think, \u201cWhat a good\nsteward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shovels are all stacked\nin their designated boxes, row, one next to the other, diverse. Some reveal\nsmooth hickory handles from the Richland Company, in Arkansas. Others disclose fiberglass\nhandles, manufactured in Bristol Virginia, yellow and orange. They\u2019re a few\nshort shovels presenting grip handled ends, for a more confident fit, purpose,\nmaybe ambition. The hardware shop boasts square shovels too, for down under the\ncold, one painted black for trenches that narrow, two that seem serious about\nshoveling deep snow, with names like Ames, Seymour, and Bond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most designed for all\nsorts of depth, width, and length of what was whole, in advance of shoveling\nany specification or design of hole. All their resumes nearly perfect, light\nuse, all with warranties ensuring long life or replacement if broken. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before backhoes,\nshovels boasted a celebrated reputation, more dignified.  In their heyday, they buried the strong, the\nfragile, even children. Designated duties were somber, yet renowned, performed\nto honor, often cause for literary mention in poems and novels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most contemporary\nshovels are designed for vocations in mind, less occupation, mainly for renewal\nas seen in the hardware stores of spring. Chores include the planting of\ncarrots, tomatoes, maybe corn, maybe fill a few post holes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or perhaps for digging\nup the past, so curious children can dream big, to dig clear to China through a\npile of sandy loam, or if very lucky, discover the tip of a devil\u2019s horn.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With time, it\u2019s\ndifficult to keep the past covered up, like the real reason for my enthusiastic\nshoveling, chase for imaginary discovery, so mother could speak to the Chaplin,\nalone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Civil War,\nthey buried soldiers, and slaves, and elbows and legs, and stallions in fields\nwhere fifes played Dixie and drums beat Yankee Doodle Dandy, both instruments\nloved and hated. In World War two, at Normandy, they buried the honorable,\nwhere each spring locals swear not to stare at the hills, because the yellow\nyarrow will blind you like sun. And in Vietnam they dug foxholes for G.I.\u2019s who\nlay in a fetus posture, crazed and low through the dawns early light, begging\nfor mother. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I fix my eyes on the shovels they begin to dim, as a string of fluorescent lights click, switch off, then out, then row, after row, after row, the way the November sentinel moon zigzags and snaps through the tall gaps in the stand of shaky Sycamore, at Arlington Cemetery.\u00a0 Grave row lights switch off, dim, row after row, this way the dead can rest in the dark, not anxious to close a hardware store, to go home with their family. So can they dream, while I do the math of how many shovels that wait their throw will it take to back fill the craters that pock the moon?\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dan has an MS Degree in Education. He is the author of three poetry Chapbooks, and a book of fiction titled Second Stories. Shovels I tell the salesclerk I\u2019m just looking, and like any valued host he says, take your time.  You know where to find me. By the way, we have more coming in … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/sa867U-891","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":902,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions\/902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}