Maintenance Man, Austin Hospital, 1970’s

Chuck Taylor

April 7, 2024

“Go fix things,” my boss said when I

Became a maintenance man. “What things

Should I fix?” I asked. “You’ll find out

Soon enough.” And so I used my common

Sense to replace plugs and light switches,

To replace washers in faucets, to replace

Ballasts in fluorescent lights, to replace

The entire intercom when it failed so

The patient could always call the nurses

At the floor desk. I pushed my maintenance

Cart from floor to floor with all my tools

And parts, and soon got to know most

The names of most of the workers there.

Down in our basement shop I joked with

All the other fix-it guys, the plumbers,

Carpenters, electricians, and the elevator

Man who said he was old for an elevator

Man and still couldn’t get life insurance.

“Those damn counterweights in the shafts

Take my buddies out all the time, but the

Pay’s sure good.” I carry still the scar on

A left forefinger from when the band saw

Slipped in making a wooden letter sign

For the cafeteria. I even had my moment

In the sun, cradling an elderly lady till

ER came. She’d run into plate glass

Thinking it was an open hallway. It

Happened late when my brother workers

Had left for home. I carried gold tape

In my cart that I ran lines on the glass

So it’d never happen again. I only thing

I disliked about the job was the grey

Uniforms we were required to wear.

The pay was good. I did not feel grey.

Chuck Taylor's latest novel is "Hamlet Versus Shakespeare." He taught Shakespeare at Angelo State University. The novel turns the tragedy of Hamlet into an adventure and comedy. Taylor is retired from wandering and teaching and spends his time with books, friends, family, manuscripts, a dog, and household repairs.