> Tools Explained

> DRILL PRESS:
> A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar > stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings > your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which > you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it. >
> WIRE WHEEL:
> Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the > workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and > hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to > say, “Oh, shit!” >
> SKILL SAW:
> A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.
>
> PLIERS:
> Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of > blood-blisters. >
> BELT SANDER:
> An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs > into major refinishing jobs. >
> HACKSAW:
> One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board > principle… It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable > motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more > dismal your future becomes. >
> VISE-GRIPS:
> Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If > nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense > welding heat to the palm of your hand. >
> OXYACETYLENE TORCH:
> Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your > shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub > out of which you want to remove a bearing race.. >
> TABLE SAW:
> A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood > projectiles for testing wall integrity. >
> HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK:
> Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have > installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under > the bumper. >
> BAND SAW:
> A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good > aluminum sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the > trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the > outside edge. >
> TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST:
> A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you > forgot to disconnect. >
> PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER:
> Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening > old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but > can also be used, as the name > implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.
>
> STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER:
> A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common > slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms. >
> PRY BAR:
> A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you > needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part. >
> HOSE CUTTER:
> A tool used to make hoses too short.
>
> HAMMER:
> Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used > as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent > the object we are trying to hit. >
> UTILITY KNIFE:
> Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons > delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents > such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector > magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially > useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use. >
> Son of a b*tch TOOL:
> Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while > yelling “Son of a bitch” at the top of your lungs. It is also, most > often, the next tool that you will need. >
“though no man is an island, some of us are inner tubes”
“Pernicious nonsense.” – J. Frank Parnell, Ph.D.
“I dare you to make less sense” – Dean Venture
“If men can run the world, why can’t they stop wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck?” – Linda Ellerbee

bleed me dry

take my hopes, my dreams

let me die.

#2

have you ever seen?

can you ever taste?

did you ever hear?

should you ever scent?

will you ever touch?

#3 (becuz I like threes…)

still

unmoving, unmoved

silent in the day, quiet in the night

terrified, ecstatic, roiled and boiled and toiled

weeping

do I love you still

and in all ways will

for naught, but ever

#2

mind darkened

soul entombed

body yearning…

#3

you hate me, then

spill my love like blood

and always will.

commentary:

Someone told me that recovery time from a relationship is one-half the time of the relationship.  Ain’t that just f***ing great???  This means I have 9 more years.  Why can’t I just expunge her from my memories and be done with it?

time bound in endless paradise of ennui

fragile, unneeded

unknown, unknowing, floating

unheeded.

Can you see the dark, the last minutes of your birth, the passage of the wind?                    light

changed,

unfounded, rebounded, unbinding

motile, sounded

do you know

what god said to me in his despair?

or the cry of creation, newly entered upon this coil?

can you find the middle of nothing that matters, or smell the touch of a candle?

where is the smile of a bird when it has no time

find it

mind it

blind…

I heard the wind asking for your love, the water for your soul, flame for your hair, earth for your fingers;

why did you give them nothing for their hope, their tears, their laughter?

impressions of starlight and ecstasy lost in the ears of the universe turning fast upon itself

why, the dancers wept as they wove among themselves, why

time bound in endless paradise of ennui

Screaming to a lemon

Did you taste the wine

that sang of dreams and fear?

Did you hear the raging wind, the timeless tides,

keening a mother’s death?

Touch it then and there amidst the questions.

Hold it falling in the darkling void.

Know it with heartstrung desperation

and give it to the dead.

Shapeless crystal shards,

nameless hallowed sounds,

echoes of my soul that fade into the mist.

They ate and drank as the song

unwound around their minds.

They slept inside

a hopeless house of legends,

and found nothing that was not there.

fear

Phobos

ascends                                               descends

were                                                   YOU,                                                 weren’t

there                                                     here

playing your game

of

mind                                                            heart                                                              soul

holding                                                                                                            dealing

ALL,

the answers                                                                                                       the cards

keeping                                                  score

all by yourself, on that little pad in that pocket next to your fear, and i never saw the rules until i lost

EVERYTHING,

my heart, my soul, my mind

LOST

perturbation factors

come sing with me

sing a song, but not too long

sing a song of rose and lavender

of prose and scavenger

sing to the earth

sing to the sea

sing to the air

sing to she

who finds us

minds us

winds us up and sends us forth

dream the song, and live the dream

for far too long have we met only in a nightmare

a time of pain, a time of rain

I know not what magic is

what it does is enough

and never there was a more difficult time

to make exquisite, nonsensate rhyme.

Love and rage

Love and rage,

blue and red,

rue and blood,

loss and rave.

Fuel for the fire

that lights my soul.

A lens to focus,

to burn,

can it heal?

Call him Mr. Jones,

he apes us in ignorance,

as we laugh in innocence.

No, that won’t work.

too eager for another

protest.  I take off my clothes

when I write poetry.

Naked, I try to make you think I’m nude.

Winterlight

A candle in the night,

music in the storm.

hope amidst despair.

Earth sleeps,

dreaming deep,

kindling seeds renewed.

Fate’s wheel turns anew,

the flame may die,

and the song may end,

But we chose,

what to remember,

what to forget,

and hope we thus mend.

Stretch out your hand

to clasp another,

the candle flares,

the music swells,

and hope unfolds.

untitled wrap around #37

…creep around me

like time                      fleeing and

dying

sounds of decay and despair

there

is

nothing

is

there

running, and crying, little is left

to feed upon                when

the shadows…

Colby, Kansas

dancing circles, screaming lines

I found myself walking on time

fear became my friend and hope

let go,

let go of this,

this heavy joy I saw with in your fist

please, she said, don’t let me live

let me instead become your friend

I took her face and left her…there

to feast upon my handless soul

forever

with souls like fingers as we strolled

forever

like the couple, faces lined with a map of joy

forever

our eyes flowed together like orgasmic sweat

forever

rang the phone because you needed to be held

forever

because you were late when my father died

forever

is what you took, what you take, what you break

forever

if only you had said, I would have given it to you

forever

can I have it back, please?

the reasons why

What did You think?

You told Me                   ‘leave’

You told Me

everything is my fault.

Yes      it all is

everythingeverythingeverythingeverythingeverythingeverythingeverything

Why?

I married You

I took You back seventeen years ago

I came back, three times, when You begged Me

Why?

your body, soft, warm, viciously yielding?

my fear of lonliness?

Was it…                                                          your mind, sweet, questing, deeply cunning?

a call to arms?

your soul, old, knowing, ambivalently wise?

Why?

I didn’t listen to my instinct                                                        I didn’t smell Your trouble

everything Yes, all of it everything

I           tell       You

everything is my fault

I           told      You

I           would              leave

Why?

You didn’t hear

You

You

why                                     do                                     you

think                                                                                                                      feel

believe

what                   who                           where                           how                  when

why

if i said i destroy/love/hate/create

would you hold me against it?

could you find a way       could you kill the thing

or path through                                                      that eats your soul?

or will it take

us                       you/me

away                                                                         nowhere

eye

lament                            ferment

thought

love                                                                             hate

fear                                                                              love

fire rages on the mountain          snow lies in the valley