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Intriguing point, Max, but I agree about some neat urns of phrase (although I felt there could be some compression nearer the end, Bill; not rue how exactly, but felt it).

There may be more stories attached to that watch?

Doug
On Sep 23, 2014, at 11:27 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> several nice turns of phrase and feeling here, Bill.
> At this point, however, I sense a chance of drama lost:
> 
> Presented
> in a crimson Bullova box, 
> the only surviving remnant, 
> 
> watch forgotten in squash 
> change room long ago.
> 
> Max in Seattle
> 
> On Sep 23, 2014, at 11:48 PM, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> Grandma Beat gave it to me 
>> for my tenth birthday, the dial, 
>> the size of the new ten cent bit, 
>> just right for my narrow wrist. 
>> 
>> Thin red second hand jerking 
>> over solid black numbers, 
>> luminous lime on gold 
>> outlined other hands.
>> 
>> Stiff brown leather band 
>> with flimsy buckle. Presented
>> in a crimson Bullova box, 
>> the only surviving remnant, 
>> 
>> watch forgotten in squash 
>> change room long ago.
>> Box still in fine working order, 
>> now contains badges, 
>> 
>> also once worn: The Clash, 
>> No Nukes, Legalise It
>> and, already obsolete, 
>> a pea-green iPod nano.
>> 
>> Time was on everybody's 
>> hands back then. Wrist ready.
>> Today digital numbers leap 
>> from mobile phones.
>> 
>> Does it mean anything 
>> to anyone any more
>> to tap on your naked 
>> wrist interrogatively?
>> 
>> Grandma ran out of time 
>> a year after gifting me.
>> The old box, having seen
>> off what it contained
>> 
>> may yet outlive its 
>> worn wearer. 
>> 
>> 
>> bw
> 

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