Vices

Everyone of these objects is a treasure to me.

The metal clamps were my great grandfather’s and were carefully tucked into his toolbox
along with the calipers and other tools of a silversmith’s trade.

The sea green blue bottle with it’s tiny cork stopper wrapped in a tin
so intricately patterned that it had to be designed by gnomes.

The Jorgesons which were whipped open and wound tight
to hold fast the posts and rungs of hundreds and hundreds of chairs in my old workshop…

Yet with a grip tender enough to hold
the very tip of Mo Follansbee’s pointy old pipe.

The bingo card that I stole from the Trier family reunion when dear old
Duck Dippner was still around to call the game.

And the clothespin that Herself secretly hides
in the folds of my jackets to tell me that I am loved.