Comments on: Ode to a Plumb Bob

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By: Joan

Joan — Mon, 05 May 2008 03:01:50 +0000

Golly! That’s fascinating info. I might never have become acquainted with ‘Bob’ in that case but Plummet would bring on a whole new set of images..cause really it does plummet straight down all the while hanging safely by it’s tail. However, whatever name you chose to call your poem, it reads as sweet. It would still have those 4 wonderful metaphors ending with “Pendulum made to mark eternity one still moment at a time.”

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:55:18 +0000

Hey, that’s great, Joan! Thanks for sharing. I’m glad I didn’t go with the more staid alternate name and title mine “Ode to a Plummet.”

Evidently “plumb bob” is a corruption of the Latinate word for lead, plumbum.

By: Joan

Joan — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:03:02 +0000

Although not very quiet and mostly irregular, I too was inspired to do a riff on Plumb Bob’s funny name. By the end of the first 2 lines I knew I was in trouble due to the bi-sexual undertones of the thing. By the time it finished itself (my verse often does that) it had morphed into a slightly more universal metaphor. Maybe I should have then called it “Bi-Polar Bob”.

A WILD PLUMB

Plumb Bob is quite a quirky one
Just swinging either way.
Eventually he tires of both
And finds one place to stay.
Is our Bob just plumb tuckered out
With errant weird behavior?
Does being still help sort him out?
Is quietness his savior?
He seems to find a focal point
To which he should aspire
But middle road and even planes
Quite soon cause him to tire.
Somehow I think our plums of wisdom
Do not fill Bob’s bill.
The straight and narrow rarely
Fits a vacillating will.
But just as he swings out again
To plumb the bounds of space,
Inertia, yawning, drags him back
To measure our dull space.

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:42:54 +0000

Thanks, Larry – I’m glad these resonate with your own experience of what I suppose we should be calling the secret life of tools.

By: Larry Ayers

Larry Ayers — Sun, 04 May 2008 21:35:13 +0000

Very nice imagery, Dave! As a long-time woodworker, I’ve been enjoying this series.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:11:07 +0000

Thanks for the comments. Quiet regular – if you do, feel free to share the results here!

By: David Harmon

David Harmon — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:09:48 +0000

Cute. And of course, it’s always at odds with the spirit level….

By: ...deb

...deb — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:37:55 +0000

Ahhh…one of my favorites. Tool and poem about tools.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:01:22 +0000

Check!