Thanks, Andrew. I had better check with Dad about the number of hammer blows.
Bill
On 19/02/2015, at 11:47 AM, Andrew Burke wrote:
> Liked it, Bill - and understood it all. I think 'portable' works - or it
> did for me. I have a nephew here who is a lone builder - remodelled a back
> shed into a wonderful studio for me, but didn't like people interrupting
> him :-)
>
> I'll send him the poem, see what he makes of it.
>
>
> Andrew
>
> On 19 February 2015 at 09:58, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Thanks, Pat, Max, Doug. Jim is my father. 'Portable', Max, was meant to
>> convey that he carried all his tools upon his person and his person moved
>> with them. No returning to the tool shed or car to pick up stuff. Maybe it
>> is not quite the word I seek. The fete, Doug, was full of toffs or at least
>> white collar fathers, who wouldn't have known a hammer from a pencil
>> sharpener.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>>
>>> On 19 Feb 2015, at 4:42 am, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Yes, neatly told, Bill. I was at first not sure if you needed all the
>> description of the fete, but then the conclusion worked...
>>>
>>> Doug
>>>> On Feb 18, 2015, at 8:11 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> One of your best, for me, Bill.
>>>>
>>>> Unfolds and concludes nicely nicely.
>>>>
>>>> 'portable' refers to what he carries? the toolbar?
>>>>
>>>> (I thought Jim was your neighbor but at the end he's family.)
>>>>
>>>> Max
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On Feb 17, 2015, at 13:00, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> With four hammer blows
>>>>> the three inch nail is flush.
>>>>> That's counting the set-up tap.
>>>>>
>>>>> When the power goes off now
>>>>> on a building site, carpenters
>>>>> knock off for the day.
>>>>>
>>>>> In Jim's time, you just
>>>>> got on with it. Power
>>>>> was for the Sparkies.
>>>>>
>>>>> Stripped to the waist,
>>>>> cracked leather tool bag
>>>>> aproning his slight paunch,
>>>>>
>>>>> Jim put in steady days
>>>>> on Bendigo housing blocks,
>>>>> armed with his smooth,
>>>>>
>>>>> wooden-handled hammer,
>>>>> nail punch, black-handled
>>>>> builder's square rammed
>>>>>
>>>>> in his belt, flick-hinged
>>>>> carpenter's rule and stubby,
>>>>> flat, red pencil. A portable
>>>>>
>>>>> one-man constructor.
>>>>> Even as I homeworked
>>>>> over a desk as a teenager,
>>>>>
>>>>> on weekends, I knew
>>>>> his presence, nails jangling
>>>>> in that tool bag, interspersed
>>>>>
>>>>> with regular hammer blows,
>>>>> some backyard project
>>>>> always on the go.
>>>>>
>>>>> The fete on a Saturday
>>>>> at the local grammar school,
>>>>> saw well-heeled mothers,
>>>>>
>>>>> cardiganed fathers haggling
>>>>> for bargains. Away from
>>>>> trimmed doilies and napkins,
>>>>>
>>>>> a makeshift side-show
>>>>> offered a pound note
>>>>> to anyone who could drive
>>>>>
>>>>> a nail into thick board
>>>>> in five or fewer blows.
>>>>> I had to insist.
>>>>>
>>>>> Jim bought Choc Wedges
>>>>> for the family, all five of us.
>>>>> Proud, was I, as punch.
>>>>>
>>>>> bw
>>>>> 17.2.15
>>>
>>> Douglas Barbour
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>> Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuation
>> 2 (UofAPress).
>>> Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
>>>
>>> that we are only
>>> as we find out we are
>>>
>>> Charles Olson
>>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Andrew
> http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
> 'Undercover of Lightness'
> http://walleahpress.com.au/recent-publications.html
> 'Shikibu Shuffle'
> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/new-from-aboveground-press-shikibu.html
>
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