Comma, apostrophe, back-
slash, cursive flourish —
an all-purpose divider
that only accidentally resembles
a question mark in search
of its dot-like perch.
No self-respecting crow, beak
clever at leverage, ever
departed from
the declarative mode.
Male & female
hand & handle,
heavy as Wednesday.
What iron tree might ramify
if you insinuated yourself
into some sidewalk crack?
I know that curl
from watching seeds sprout:
cotyledon at the point
of pulling apart.
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The Manual series, when complete, will tell you everything you need to know that you didn't learn in kindergarten. Belgian video-artist and soundcreator Swoon is making videos for some of its sections. Guest-author Luisa A. Igloria has been writing a poem a day since November 2010 in response to Dave's posts at The Morning Porch. Yet another on-going collaboration is the dialogue in poems and photos prompted by late-night conversations between Dave and British blogger Rachel Rawlins, a project we call Conversari. Finally, the Words on the Street cartoon, featuring Dave's urban doppelganger Diogenes, returned at the beginning of 2012 as a weekly feature after a several-year hiatus.Categories
Series
- Bestiary
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- Manual: How to make videopoems, courtesy of Swoon
- Landscape, with Geese; and Later, Falling Snow
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Recent Comments
- rr said This is the pig’s bollocks. (Aka awesome)
- Dave Bonta said Thanks. I’ve always loved that word (as well...
- Deb said Loving this series; want to steal many lines. Chee...
- Dave Bonta said Thanks! I kind of think my spring wildflower poems...
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Authors
Dave Bonta (3184), Luisa A. Igloria (424), Todd Davis (9), Teju Cole (5), Steven Bonta (3), Chris Bolgiano (3), Marcia Bonta (2), Bruce Bonta (1), Abdul-Walid of Acerbia (1), Sarah Bennett (1), Nathan Moore (1), Kristin Berkey-Abbott (1), Joan Ryan (1), Alexis Aguilar (1), Peter Stephens (1), Alison Kent (1), Dick Jones (1)
ha! cotyledon indeed.
At first I wondered about “as heavy as Wednesday. Then I realized that Wednesday is in the middle of the week and has to include the weight of three days on either side. I liked that and having to think about it.
Sometimes the word or phrase that sounds best is also what makes the most sense – even if it’s a hidden kind of sense. Glad this worked for you, too.
Nice. Another memory jog of our years of renovations and that satisfying sound of tearing apart, pulling nails, and leverage, as you say so poetically!
You’ve really hit a groove with this home-brew genre, Dave. This is great.
Really like this one, another great bringing to life. Cotyledon……:)
Thanks, guys. Marja-Leena, you’re right – there is something very satisfying about pulling things out, or apart, with a crowbar, though I didn’t really focus on that in the poem. Material perhaps for another crowbar poem down the road.