What is a good path to follow, to both earn a living, and find enjoyment, fulfillment, etc.?
Troutbert, these are really good questions, ones that I think Harrison compels you to ask yourself through that line.
I think the answer is different for everyone. For me, it's more of a process than an answer - a continuous questioning and reflecting of life, contentment, etc. I like work, I thrive off of having a job to do and doing that job. However, I've found that I need fulfilling work, work that doesn't leave me high and dry when I'm done, work that in some way gives back to me on some level. Good work. I've had plenty of shitty jobs, and in the end, they left me feeling shitty. At the end of those days, my life was simply the sloppy leftovers of whatever motions I was going through. Life became part of the work that I was living.
On the other hand, I've had and currently have jobs that, while may be very demanding on some levels, are "good" in my eyes (and that definition of "good" differs with each person). By doing work that is "good" in my eyes, I find that my life embraces the work instead of becoming the bystander of it. Work becomes a part of the life that I am living and not the other way around.
But like I said, the "solution", if there really is one, is an individual finding whereas the problem is a universal one that we all have to face at some point. This is what a great writer does, presents us with a universal problem tied to an image that we all can relate to (a house in disrepair, slowly falling back into the earth), and lets us figure out the "answer" in our own way. A series of koans for us to mull over while engaged in our story.
On a side note, I just saw that Jim Harrison published a new book of poems, Dead Men Float. I'm definitely going to have to pick that one up. I'll let yinz know how it is.
