Migrant Worker on California Highway, by Gail Peck

Migrant Worker on California Highway, photograph by Dorothea Lange (USA). 1936.

Migrant Worker on California Highway

Caught in mid-step with many more
to go. A hat to shade him from the sun.
This man is carrying everything
he owns over his left shoulder.
Soon he will shift the bundle
to the other shoulder.
Dust settles on his clothes, his face,
in his nose. Only a worn handkerchief
in his back pocket to wipe away sweat.
Soon he will shift the bundle
to the other shoulder. Perhaps
a car will come by, but they are usually
laden with belongings and numerous children.
He’s getting hunched from bending to crops,
longs for the reach of apples and peaches,
the shade of the trees. He doesn’t mind lying
beneath the stars, the sounds of the insects.
He’ll sleep from exhaustion,
and dream. It is then the lost ones
will return, picking up in mid-sentence.

Gail Peck

Gail Peck is the author of eight books of poetry. The Braided Light won the Leana Shull Contest for 2015. Poems and essays have appeared in Southern Review, Nimrod, Greensboro Review, Brevity, Connotation Press, Comstock, Stone Voices, and elsewhere.  Her poems have been nominated for a Pushcart, and her essay “Child Waiting” was cited as a notable forBest American Essays, 2013. ​