Exits 4.When, a year or so ago, I read Dave Bonta's Ode to Tools series of poems on his vianegativa website, I thought that it deserved to appear in book form. Now I see that it has been published by http://www.phoeniciapublishing.com/ and is available from Amazon. com, and I order a copy today. What is most appealing about tools, is the way they transcend function. They have a beauty of their own, shaped by their intended use, but honed and polished by long usage. This applies as much to prehistoric flint arrow-heads and axe-heads as to modern garden spades and forks, rakes, hammers and hoes. Dave has captured, in precise language, these qualities and perhaps another dimension - the place of tools in the perspective of daily life. I am looking forward to reading the poems again on paper between hard covers.
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Lying in the middle of the pavement is a new, leather glove. It is curled expressively as though trying to grasp something.
6 comments:
Hey, thanks for the plug -- and for ordering a copy! Beth did a nice job with it; I don't think you'll be disappointed.
I should add that the publisher's link you've included doesn't work without the "www":
Phoenicia Publishing.
Thanks for the plug and for the corrected link. I'll return to this site when I have time but I'm intrigued by the idea. Good tools not only fit our hands but also our preconceptions about how work should be done; in a sense they are crystal balls allowing us envisage the work in progress. I have in mind a long screwdriver with a broad blade which I bought when I moved into the first house I owned and began Rawlplugging all over. In fact the better solution wwould have been to drill holes with a slightly larger bit. But the screwdriver compensated for my ignorance and all my shelves, etc, remained in place. Later I bent the driver's shaft slightly in some torque-needful exercise but this distortion merely confirms that this is my screwdriver. Before I started dabbling in verse I did a prose post about this and another well-regarded screwdriver but it failed to attract anyone's interest. I hadn't enlivened my relationship. A screwdriver seems an ideal subject for a rigorously crafted sonnet with the emphasis on rigour.
In the best traditions of blogging I responded (above) with something else in mind. The damaged vent, with some Saatchi text added, would make a telling advert for a dentist.
I ordered an extra copy. I thought if for some reason you hadn't picked up on it I'd send it to you! As it is, so much the better, and I'll give it to my brother for his birthday.
I'm looking forward to re-reading these poems. It occurred to me that they would coincide with BB's blog theme because of the meeting of technology and poetry. So I am pleased about your interest,BB. And thank you, Lucy, for your thoughtfulness. I hope your brother enjoys the book.
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