WILLIAM JACKSON BLACKLEY

An Auger Bit

Rummage with me son
a pawn shop aisle
stacked with monkey
wrenches, pulleys, winches,
C-clamps, pliers, bastard files,
blue snap-lines, ball peen hammers
hocked and antiquated
by laser and electric. Wood
halves and oiled
calipers in dad's square
hands once worked
shipyard steel and launched
battle cruisers. Let's gather
chisel, plane, hack saw, and slot head
driver in memory of when
he holstered a yellow folding rule
in his hip pocket instead of a Four
Roses fifth. Let's scrounge
the bins until we ferret out a gauge
designed to plumb the depth
of whiskey's undoing.