Ode to a Wire Brush

Posted on July 15, 2008 by Dave Bonta
This entry is part 26 of 34 in the series Odes to Tools

Never was walking
a greater penance
than for one without any feet
& legs more numerous
than the corrosive rain.
And the to-&-fro of it:
pacing is a refuge
when you can’t stand still.
Do it long enough
& distraction turns into discipline,
the ground warms
& acquires the hard gleam
of an interrogator.
You confess, confess, confess.
Your tracks are covered
with a thin brown dust.

Series Navigation← Ode to a ShoehornWoodrat Podcast 2: Elizabeth Adams and “Odes to Tools” →

About Dave Bonta

Dave Bonta (bio) crowd-sources his problems by following his gut, which he shares with one quadrillion of his closest microbial friends --- a tight-knit, symbiotic community comprising some 500 different species of bacteria, fungi, and protozoa.
This entry was posted in Greatest Hits, Poems & poem-like things. Bookmark the permalink.

9 Responses to Ode to a Wire Brush

  2. Peter says:
    July 16, 2008 at 6:53 am

    Wonderful. What a line: “pacing is a refuge / when you can’t stand still.” The poem radiates up and down from there. I’m hiking some today, and your poem will be a suitable companion. I’ve printed it for my cargo pants pocket.

  3. Dave says:
    July 16, 2008 at 7:43 am

    Thanks! It makes me happy to think of the poem going for a hike with you (and your scout troop, I presume?). And I’m glad to hear that someone makes use of the Print feature.

    You’ll be interested to know that it started off as a poem about Satan from the book of Job – “going to and fro in the earth/ and walking up and down in it.” But I’ve alluded to that verse before in my poems, and besides I liked the results much better when I cut this one loose from the allusion.

  4. Shai says:
    July 16, 2008 at 11:21 pm

    You confess, confess, confess.
    Your tracks are covered
    with a thin brown dust.

    Aha, confession itself is tainted – yet another means to provide a cover! Better to just let distraction become the discipline and kick the confession habit altogether.

    Re: Peter’s hiking: he was with me in Elk Neck State Park on the Maryland shore and we studied your poem in an ice cream shop in the town of North East, MD. (I wonder how the townsfolk feel about having their town’s name equate to a compass location.) Anyway, great stuff. We couldn’t quite figure out, “feet and legs more numerous than the corrosive rain.” Rain doesn’t associate easily to “numerous.” Is it the rain drops that are being compared to the feet and legs of the wire brush? Do tell.

    We had a lot of fun with it. Thank you. You were in our spirits!

  5. Dave says:
    July 17, 2008 at 8:03 am

    Hi Shai. I suppose the question of whether or not confession is a good idea must vary from person to person. I’m highly suspicious of one-size-fits-all approaches to religion or therapy… and obviously “forced confession” is a complete oxymoron.

    I’m honored by your and Peter’s attention to my work. As for the line you inquire about, I guess I was thinking not about raindrops per se but their paths in the air. The wire brush reminded me of a downpour the way we experience it visually – and the way plants and soil microorganisms might experience it physically, rain in these parts being highly acidic (“corrosive”).

  6. marlyat2 says:
    July 21, 2008 at 8:58 pm

    Nevertheless I find it interesting to think about the poem in conjunction with the Job quote and Satan–penance, pacing, confession, ground warming up. Something oblique, glancing, half-hidden…

  7. Dave says:
    July 22, 2008 at 8:16 am

    Yeah, I suppose a mere change of the title could turn it into a completely different poem, couldn’t it? Well, I guess that’s always true. (What’s different about these tool odes from me is that I know the title at the outset. With virtually every other poem I’ve ever written, the title comes last.)

  8. Nathan First says:
    July 25, 2008 at 6:51 pm

    Holy Lord, how gorgeous.
    Dad (Fred First) alerted me to your blog yesterday, as I’m in the neophyte stages of blogging myself and had asked where I ought to go for vision. Now I’m not sure whether to be inspired, intimidated, or simply pissed that someone else has already written the blog I’d been licking my chops to write myself, and, damn it, far better.

    Of the three, though, I’ll go with inspired. Seeing that you made me weep for a barbecue brush at my very first go, expect me daily.

  9. Dave says:
    July 25, 2008 at 9:35 pm

    Hi Nathan, and welcome. I’m flattered by your and your father’s high opinion of my blogging. With tumblelogs and microblogging all the rage now, I’m very glad to hear you’re interested in following your dad’s footsteps and exploring the medium’s full potential for online self-publishing. User-supplied content drives innovation on the web these days, and blogs are still the best all-around platform for experimentation, if you ask me. I’d be gratified to think that Via Negativa might be a source of inspiration. Not that there’s anything wrong with a good old-fashioned scrapbook or links blog, either, of course – speaking of which, be sure to check out my Smorgasblog links for some other examples of what a blog can be.