Open Poetry #39 |
Uncle Bob's Pocket Knife |
Ratleader
since 2003-01-23
Posts 7026Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass |
Uncle Bob’s Pocket Knife It felt important, like a gift from just an apple peel, no special thing at all, and his cheap pocket knife, too old to rust; he’d strip it in one long and lazy spall. It didn’t seem to matter that he’d cut fish baits and leaders in the afternoon the day before, or that he’d scratched his butt while clowning like the dunce in a cartoon and may have washed his hands, or maybe not. He kept it sharp, an oilstone by the sink made from a broken chunk of flower pot. He’d strip that peel so thin the red looked pink, and then, after the pleasant mess he’d made, cut me a wedge; I still can taste that blade. |
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© Copyright 2006 Ed Ratledge - All Rights Reserved | |||
Interloper
since 2000-11-06
Posts 8369Deep in the heart |
I have the same memories of my Grandather's knife and I now own that very knife Well done! |
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Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049California |
Ed....I have my father's knife...unused, not even sure if he used it...still I treasure it. Great poem, with just the right heart touch!! |
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Ratleader
since 2003-01-23
Posts 7026Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass |
Bob Eccles....he wasn't really an uncle, except in some super-subtly related way I never actually understood....but so much a part of the extended family that he got the title.... Psst....Karilea....some of your friends or neighbors may have known him....he lived where you do, and for a while over in Parsons. ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº> ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº> ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº> ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº> ______________Ratleader______________ |
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The Lady Member Rara Avis
since 2005-12-26
Posts 7634The Southwest |
Ed I like to stay with your poems awhile kinda visit with them |
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passing shadows Member Empyrean
since 1999-08-26
Posts 45577displaced |
thanks for the story...brought back some memories |
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Ratleader
since 2003-01-23
Posts 7026Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass |
Sometimes even I, give in to the urge to write a sonnet.....but I try not to make it too obvious! ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº> ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº> ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº> ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº> |
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suthern
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723Louisiana |
I swear... *S* You're the only one who can write a sonnet and make it flow so smoothly that I don't realize I'm reading one... no forced rhyme from your pen! *S* You've painted him so vividly, I feel I know him... and don't blame you for choosing kinship. *S* |
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Magnus
since 2001-10-10
Posts 14135South Carolina, USA |
Oh...so can I ... so can I... Thanx Ed, this was/is great! |
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Magnus
since 2001-10-10
Posts 14135South Carolina, USA |
So, when are U going to write that sonnet? Huh? |
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Pressie Member
since 2006-11-14
Posts 157Oklahoma |
Reminded me of my dad. He had an affinity for knives. My uncle hand made a number of excellent pocket knives many years ago. Thanks for the trip back down memory lane! Well done! |
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VAS Member Rara Avis
since 2000-11-16
Posts 7450Oregon |
Yep, the things we survive...germaphobic though we may sometimes be, we seemed to have withstood things that are hard to believe. "spall" is a new word for me; going to have to look that one up. Was that your intent? Make me smarter, by chance?:=} I had totally missed that it was a sonnet. At least now I know why it stopped so soon. Wanted to hear more, I have to admit. Whether on the shoal or on the shore, |
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