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
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