His round carver’s mallet
rung out vibrations
and workbench chimes
as he forced his chisel
into the oak
Other redundant tools
hung
shelved
and sung with the whack and saw
We talked about art and ecology
and how they could combine
as he formed his perfect edges
against nature’s aged grain
He was crafting a bench
one commissioned to sit
in Alfriston’s book store
No plans or dimensions to hand
because this was true art
We compared the unwritten notes
of our marriage dissertations
and found that such study
provides no long term rewards
