[lit-ideas] Re: Saturday Poem
- From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 14 May 2011 15:06:10 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
For my Colleague Bill Moore, on his Retirement
this is not a pipe
this is bill
the force that though the billowing cloud
acquires tools
first one lathe and then all the others
a band saw
ventilation
tools a'plenty
you've been there
in the wood shop
watched
as he tries every way he knows to explain what he knows
while still keeping eyes in the back of his head swiveling
so that everyone emerges safely
and with work
and with a sense of achievement
from that potentially dangerous space
this is not a pipe
this is bill's work
it's his fundamental form
repeated
arising from the sense memory of his fingers
which having cleaned out so many tobacco bowls
with those little training gouges
when presented with larger opportunity
given their turn on stage
so to speak
say
a pipe
let's do a pipe again
we like pipes
bill moore
turning and turning in a widening gyre
he's both the falcon and the falconer
the sharp-eyed one and the man who swings the bait
leading, training, caring
bill moore
smiling with his eyes
helping others out
being bill
the useful man
who in french
would be called
l'addition
what adds up
bill moore
need i say more
he won't
though his word is as sound as good wood
the best compliment is probably finally to emulate him
so now
instead of rising to applaud
or maybe after rising to applaud
we should sit
down
imagine ourselves surrounded by a cloud of smoke
swirling
we smile
and like his hardwearing beard
we grow
imperceptibly
a little longer
and older
this is not a pipe
dream
it's an exit
line
bill moore
my friend
we thank you
David Ritchie,
West Coast
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