Hmm well I don't know about this one Mike but it is very complex and sex 
comes into it and crucifiction and I think could be read as a little 
sadistic in places especially the first verse and I read shaft or the hook 
as the penis.
The second verse as the slotting together as in the sexual act does come 
across but I did read your reply to Christina.
I find it a little disturbing but actually the last line says a lot about 
the loss of innocense. Loss of a lover in betrayal is a terrible feeling 
akin to a crucifiction of the soul. Well that's my reading. Bw Sally J

>From: Mike Horwood <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: New sub: Making connections
>Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 13:14:44 +0200
>
>Hello Troops!
>Iīm getting really bogged down with this one. Some things about it I like, 
>but Iīm bothered about whether the connections are really being made here, 
>and whether there are too many of them. Please assist a poet in distress (3 
>wives and a child to support, erm, no, thatīs not right.....
>
>
>Making Connections
>
>Superb, I curve like a coat hook
>in the cloakroom of my first school,
>where, in our innocence, we used to swing,
>two small hands clasped round the shaft,
>knees drawn up, or dream of hoisting
>a foe to leave him hanging helpless
>as the Romans did. Six thousand
>along the Appian Way, nailed
>or tied to the woodwork.
>
>Truly, we are hooked and forked,
>designed to dovetail as smoothly
>as the carpenter slots cross-joints.
>With feet planted slightly apart
>and hips a little forward, I pause
>to glance through the window at a bird
>with a worm twisting in its beak,
>then tense my muscles. I bear against a weight
>and pressure. I press against resistance.
>
>We know how snugly the hook fits the worm,
>how the worm slides down a gullet.
>Yes, I think, itīs all tearing, impaling
>and swallowing. So fishing, carpentry
>and the knowledge that a man will twist
>when a bird spears his eyeball
>all have this in common,
>this loss of innocence.
>
>
>
>Mike