.
working’s not just about bucks
it has meaning in making
in thinking …..…. in being
…….. has meaning in love:
…….. in blowing nothingness away
…….. when push comes to shove
we aren’t slugs by genesis
and not by chance, but by attitude
in every circumstance
…….. but slugs are slugs from
…….. bad beginnings who slide along
…….. on slippery platitudes
I set this joist in place to lines scribed
on top plates drawn against a square.
the sun’s bright, high and there
…….. quaking Aspens flicker in moving air
…….. as some sin while praying
…….. here there and everywhere
below on earth a carpenter
accompanied by a skill-saw’s whir
is singing; he lops the end off
a two by ten of Douglas fir
which drops, making dry dust stir
…….. why does this
…….. in this tick of time
…….. occur?
sweat of cooling angels
coats my skin
…….. my belly’s taut and firm
…….. and thin
one sensation ends
the next begins
…….. one thought loses
…….. the next one wins
one day dissipates
the next begins
I’ve lugged these boards a billion times
from lumber piles and trucks
from silence to noise in this chain of rhymes,
but it’s never enough
…….. raking all with a fine tooth comb
…….. recalling every cut I’ve ever blown
…….. each stupid move (each one sublime
…….. in carelessness) now treading more lightly
……..with each step home
.
by Jim Culleny
12/19/15
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Blink 