The Mechanic’s Assistant

07/06/2000

I’m engaged
In this odd job
Of reassembling myself
too,

Using all of these old bits and pieces,
parts left on the shelf
for many years,
forgotten.

A job far from complete.
Indeed, only weeks old, months maybe,
This being the opening salvo,
the first steps
of a long journey.
Tinkering with a complicated machine
and unsure of the process,
and the shop manual
useless;
old and worn, and
caught too many times
in the rain.

I’m becoming
immersed in this project
and you keep handing me
tools.

And from the shameless commerce division

The poem “The Mechanic’s Assistant” is available in the chapbook “The Cove”, by James Garland, published in 2020, and available from Amazon or can be purchased from the author.