Oh, so works for me! Thank you, Doug.
ken
On 9/23/2014 2:30 PM, Douglas Barbour wrote:
> 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
>
|