NO-FLY ZONE
By Larry Narron
I spy on my neighbor
the self-taught machinist
tinkering with a skill-saw
& twirling the tiny spirals
of screws in his callused
fingers as if they are pearls
On top of his workbench
that takes up most of his driveway
is mounted a 3-D printer he says
he assembled himself from scratch
Already he’s programmed
dimensions to print a rifle
to neutralize the drones
that might infiltrate the nofly zone that hovers above his property
The edge of his sovereign airspace
is marked by a row of smokestacks
that poison the sunrise black
Beyond is the grocery
where sometimes he offers
to sharpen the knives that belong
to the meat department