CHATTERMARKS
by Michael G. Smith
- Small, curved scars in bedrock resulting from the vibrational
chipping action of rock fragments in a glacier’s base, each mark
roughly at right angles to the direction the glacier was moving;
- Franklin Burroughs
As I lay down
the chuck chuck chuck
of the adze
chipping into a pine plank
follows me,
spreads before me,
returns me to Dad
building planter boxes
for flowers and vegetables.
Generous with his labors,
harsh with his mouth,
the boxes rotted long ago,
and yet again as I again
empty myself for sleep
I hear him chipping, chipping,
chipping to get the dovetail
joints just right,
and because sleep
falls like the chips
of the plank that was,
the chuck chuck chucks are,
the chuck chuck chucks are not,
and no longer his
they have become mine,
they are mine
and never were.
with gratitude to William Faulkner
Gyroscope Review - page 16
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