Tools and Poetry

I am doing some very important, ground breaking poetical stuff.

                  Tools and Poetry

        I have read poetry to my tools
          and met with mixed results.
          It ranged from mild interest
    to indifference and some hostility.
        Few have shown themselves
      to be riveted, except of course,
         my rivet gun, but only here,
         then immediately reverting 
   to indifference with a colossal sigh.

             The levels, as a group,
         have not passed judgement.
                  They are waiting
             for the bubble to settle
   to decide, like an emperor’s thumb,
               whether up or down.
               The level has always,
            over so many centuries,
  shown restraint and is accustomed
                to being listened to
               by the other seniors,
            the pry bar and the saw.
            They never do anything
          without the level or square
                passing judgment.
       The other senior, the hammer,
        finds me vaguely interesting,
      since I vaguely resemble a nail.

            The drills are quick to go
          wherever they are told and
     can quickly reverse their opinion.
The tape measure passes no judgement,
            only insisting on accuracy
                       in all things.
        He loves a space to be filled,
             rushing to the material
                  bearing the news,
            “You must be this size,
              no more and no less.”

Speaking of poetry, as this poem above does, Lisa Jensen and LeeAnn Pickrell are hosting next Saturday another reading and open mic next Saturday of Substack poets on August 16, at 12 p.m. PDT (3 p.m. EDT), which is this coming Saturday. Readers include Shondra Bowie , Thomas Rist, Kim Nelson and myself, Weston Parker. After the readings there will be an open the mic for attendees to share a poem of their own. To register, please send me a direct message, westonparker59@gmail.com, and I’ll send you the link. The reading is on Zoom.

You can clearly see the tools are paying attention- they know good poetry when they hear it. Boomer, the dog, not so much.