The Poetry of Joseph Zaccardi

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WORK AND FIGURE

A man hammers a nail into a board on a deck he is building.
Two nails into the width of each board, into 16 joists, 16 inches apart.
He raises his hammer, he brings it down. The flat head strikes the nail.
He does this three times to each nail. The air rings with this
contact of metals. The time in the day flies. There are sparrows
in formation overhead. There are angels no one can see. In the air,
answers. The swing of the man’s hammer. He miters
another board to fit in a corner of this deck he is building.
The precise fit. Everything on the earth fits this way.
A man raises his hammer, brings it down upon a nail.
He is putting two things together.

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