The Hourglass Maker

My occupation here
is to put air on sand
into hourglasses,
breathing time into curved glass.

There are certain formulas for the careful extraction.
The air must be pulled from precise locations-
The small passage near the left ventricle of the heart.
From tiny pockets between vertebrae of the upper spine.
And there are cavities behind the eyes,
air is brought in and stored there,
not by breath but by glance.

this last location is also the hardest,
the eyes must be seared by horrific sights
to produce and harvest spit tears
that are then destructive-distilled for their contents.
All of which are breathed in
to be breathed out
into the hourglass.

--John Hamilton

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Always follow the chickens!

In our last e-mail from John, I think he gave us a quintessentially John observation. He recognized the ridiculous, pointed it out as absurd, injected humor at the inanity, and displayed the underlying truth that everyone but John missed. It still makes me laugh out loud, but now it twists my guts because it reminds me of parts of John that I wish were parts of me, and that I'll miss now for good...

"Remember, when there's danger, always follow the chickens. That's why they are called chickens!"

Posted by wilfredRM at 12:51 PM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)