The Workshop

By Kenn Taylor 

The workshop

was his place.

 

Now he is gone

the tools gather dust

cobwebs forming

dense spiralling sheets

and that moist residue

of cold, outside places

lies thick, undisturbed.

 

So much of who he was is here

the old Golden Virginia tins

Written on in Tipp-Ex:

Allen Keys

Screws (Head Tapping)

O-rings

Swarfega

all in

neat

sensible

order.

 

Tools I have no use for

tools I have no skill to use

tools like him.

Old

strong

hard

slow

dependable

cold

tools.

 

Things of use.

Things that lasted.

Things that mattered.

Making things.

Keeping things.

Just in case.

 

Taking time

to repair

and make do

Recycling

before it was fashionable.

 

He was wrong about many things

Now I am older though

I know, sometimes, he was right

but

alas

as the dust thickens

I cannot

tell him.

 

This piece appeared in Issue 3 of The Accent magazine in January 2012.

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