Ah, that, Ken.
And in a little plastic bubble
hangs the pocket watch
he inherited from his father
train conductor needing
to be on time
long stopped
like them
but memories
hang there too
Doug
On Sep 23, 2014, at 12:26 PM, Kenneth Wolman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> My father's inheritance, or mine from him:
> a gold Bulova, bought no doubt with household funds
> because he fancied it like it was a woman
>
> and when he died, it passed to me and
> I held to it until the day the upstairs plumbing
> burst to make an end to it: not waterproof
>
> not shockproof and needing daily winding.
> Like him and, I fear, like me who had
> inherited it like a shiny curse.
>
> and there came an end to it.
>
> Ken
>
> On 9/23/2014 1:27 PM, Max Richards 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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