September 2015
I have written poetry and short fiction all my life and published a lot of it. My day job is editor of a trade publication Illinois Racing News. I live on a small horse farm in northern Illinois with my husband and various animals. My latest book, "Ribcage," (from Glass Lyre Press) recently won the 2015 Kithara Book Prize. I also am an associate editor of FutureCycle Press and Kentucky Review.
Hands On Tools
A wooden box of his grandfather’s hand tools,
Carefully kept. Hammers and saws,
Awl and auger. His dad’s set of screwdrivers
And wrenches. Handed down.
He admired Norm’s elaborate workshop
On THIS OLD HOUSE, converted a corncrib
And granary in emulation: table saw,
Drill press, jigsaw, router, chain
Saws, bandsaw, wood lathe, shaper, planer,
Sander. The shining display
Of workmanship he’d learned as a boy.
Small hands aligned with larger
Roughened hands. Thumbnails square
As the old-time nails that pegged
The floorboards. How the joists joined
In the balloon framed house. The
Stair treads set, finials shellacked.
His dad and granddad,
Men who knew what
Making things meant.
His bandsaw sings the sawdust
Into a memory indispensable and true
As a spirit level. The old caution:
Measure twice,
Cut once.
A wooden box of his grandfather’s hand tools,
Carefully kept. Hammers and saws,
Awl and auger. His dad’s set of screwdrivers
And wrenches. Handed down.
He admired Norm’s elaborate workshop
On THIS OLD HOUSE, converted a corncrib
And granary in emulation: table saw,
Drill press, jigsaw, router, chain
Saws, bandsaw, wood lathe, shaper, planer,
Sander. The shining display
Of workmanship he’d learned as a boy.
Small hands aligned with larger
Roughened hands. Thumbnails square
As the old-time nails that pegged
The floorboards. How the joists joined
In the balloon framed house. The
Stair treads set, finials shellacked.
His dad and granddad,
Men who knew what
Making things meant.
His bandsaw sings the sawdust
Into a memory indispensable and true
As a spirit level. The old caution:
Measure twice,
Cut once.
©2015 Joan Colby