Advancing Hammer
by Liza Béar
In a Highbridge fortress one July
The guillotine door clangs shut
Gary, warehouse manager, pulls the cord
The freight elevator, humming, leaves its dock
Disembarking alone on the seventh floor
A brash red arrow points me to the right
Past black barricaded metal doors
padlocked repositories immured in concrete
Only my space is open
Walls lined with cardboard to keep out the damp
Basking in the glare of a giant flood
Swivelling from the extended arm
Of a yellow-painted dolly
Stacks of boxes in tight neat rows
numbered left and right, 1 to 6, A to G
Manila folders
galore, project by project,
Betray the will to get work financed, made or shown
By hand on the grey narrow-ruled legal pad
I make an inventory, box by box, file by file
Sifting through faded carbons on
corn-colored yellow paper,
corn-colored yellow paper,
In one box, a letter from England, 1986,
fountain pen inked, perhaps with a Parker 51
my father writes, he awoke
one morning without his voice
In another, same vintage,
an unopened envelope of test results,
a hand examination of left breast
specifies a cyst, 1 x 2 x 0.5 cm.
Ignored that one
specifies a cyst, 1 x 2 x 0.5 cm.
Ignored that one
Shiny waxy computer paper in 79
before the swamp of email
handwritten torn scraps,
Every type and form of communication,
notes to self and others
letters from friends, colleagues,
strangers, venues, agencies and agents;
replies, rejections and awards,
R One 3 A, folder 23, Miscellaneous
Colored postcards a vegetable market in Seattle
A camel market in Morocco
From Keith in Rome Gayle in Paris
A camel market in Morocco
From Keith in Rome Gayle in Paris
Brief formal notes on official stationery
Willoughby’s back-of-envelope sketch
for an Avalanche lay-out
On the short stack nearest me,
A square alarm clock,
A tiny portable radio
A camera. It's a long day.
Push pins, magic markers black and red
Between two stacks the water bottle
A glossy b&w print of Jackie making a sculpture
The advancing hammer about to drive a nail home
Discoveries, reminders or forgotten moments
Here’s Dee Dee with a thick dark mop of hair,
baby Molly in one hand, microphone in another
baby Molly in one hand, microphone in another
Michael's large pastel world map behind her
Interviewing Parry Teasdale about low power TV
For this week’s episode, going out
on public access Channel D at 7:30
Sequestered on a chair in the narrow space
I am under siege
The past is not the past, it's some intrepid
archeologue's future: is it still mine?
For this week’s episode, going out
on public access Channel D at 7:30
Sequestered on a chair in the narrow space
I am under siege
The past is not the past, it's some intrepid
archeologue's future: is it still mine?
© copyright Liza Béar July 26 2009
