Shelves
Shelves collapse slowly in monohrome
contents slipping dejectedly,
screws give way
pop-out or slip-shod to the floor.
Gravity.
I watch,
aghast.
A sitcom audience titters.
As in prep,
selecting wood from racks
the measure of the rod,
upheaval of a plain river
flowing from sky to leaf,
to the arc's feeling.
Let me rip and splay,
saw-dust,
splinters
the sand-paper smooths unsmooth,
so chamfer
the edge in some indifferent curve,
allied eye wobble.
TOP:
it took me a while to figure out that drill holes FIRST
in the wood THEN mark the walls with blue chalk-dust,
delve the rocquefort cheese the infernal world
wasting tungsten drill bit after hammer drill,
the Black&Decker of the gods,
Thors
'
hand at
16000
RPM
splitting the small microbes solidified,
resting a while lending unwilling support
to our house Ach
***
,
I could never find that carbide-tipped
masonry break thin drill of annealed steel
-
point angle
130
degrees,
rounded discharge groove
-
it seems as rare as mountains round here.
In the glare of the neon,
match rawplugs
to the lunar landscape
-
red yellow green
ugly plugs or plucked-off chips of wood to brace
a contingency or gravity plugs to fill holes in my field
so dropped from
12mm plasterboard gypsum
the caves and hills echo to the emptiness
dad would always use blue double-threaded
masonry screws but ordinary screws will do.
Gripping bit,
the thread drives the plaster,
cutting,
the screw-driver
-
nice ratchet wine-red handle,
long blade
-
scarfing metal,
and both hands tuning
-
Yet,
if I had a bionic hand,
would it be easier
?
They built bridges like this
-
a ratchet of hand,
arched,
cramped,
dragged into the turn
-
it trod here so long ago,
grass brushed in the dusk
leaf bent suddenly and whipped up,
breath
the screw may turn as it will,
yet sand and plaster and coke may pour
quick,
bigger rawplugs,
more wood,
or a screw wobbling
in the hole.Refill
!
Reverse the polarity,
captain
!
Recede the screw,
retract the plastic with pliers
!
We must start again with gunk splashed on the wall.
GOTO TOP
ELSE
a good one,
CONTINUE:
holding fast,
the bearer mocks level and light.
Sitcom audience larfs,
channel hoppers glide
across small humiliations. Over-engineered,
it
will not stop the gaps winking in hopeful morse.