the art of the hammer
the pounding of the nail
the art of the hammer, see, you have to
drive it
and when done right, it is as satisfying as
the sunset
the head is countersunk in one
outrageously simple blow
The Novice
taps it over and over
slowly and softly
like the time I sat in the stand
and repeated “Yes, Your Honor” until I could no longer
hear myself speaking
mostly though, The Novice swings with a rage and inaccuracy that
bends the nail
then you have a choice, to start over, and pull the nail out
or to try to straighten the nail and keep swinging
biography
MATT KOLB splits his time between his family farm in rural west Michigan and Chicago. He is the winner of the 2014 Great Lakes Commonwealth of Letters Poetry Prize. His work has been published in Forklift, Ohio, Exposition Review, The Michigan Poet, and elsewhere.