it is incredibly difficult to find a good handyman
many think they are, but do not know what they are doing
If you find one worth the pay, they are usually older
seventy years old and up
this might not be your experience, but it is ours
and we have employed a lot of handymen
more than forty I imagine
most of them “age out”
it is tough to lose them
some we say good-bye to in the hospital
after they have had a heart attack or stroke
or if they fall off a roof
it is tough falling off a roof when you are eighty-two
(30.4.75: the USA abandons its ally, South Vietnam:
Darwin Judge is the last American to die in Saigon)
Don't ever tell me this was dignified.
I never want to hear of heads held high,
of brothers-in-arms, or marching out with pride.
Just take the pain. It's how it was. Don't lie.
On Wednesday April thirtieth, we ran.
We scurried from the post we should defend,
abandoning the flag, the 'wife', the plan.
We scrambled out, and didn't take our friends.
They washed up all around us, thick as kelp.
To linger here was worse than death. They knew.
Whom else but us could they beseech for help?
We climbed aboard without them. Off we flew.
"White Christmas" played bizarrely, over again,
and big white guys with guns backed from the line
where squatted cooks and cleaners, handymen.
Our time had come to go. This was the sign.
We were their only hope. But, on the sly,
(John Wayne we weren't. Not even Dennis Hopper.)
so no-one would wise up, we - Semper Fi -
snuck sheepishly aboard the final chopper.
I have a funky chandelier;
It has a country theme.
From next to farmyard animals,
The light’s supposed to beam.
Four candelabra bulbs it has,
Each 40 watts, but though
The cow’s and sheep’s and pig’s all work,
The horse’s bulb won’t glow.
For more than 30 years it’s hung
Above the same old table,
But some connection’s broken and
To fix it I’m not able.
Some handymen have tried and failed -
No one with intuition
Or knowledge that will do the trick -
I need an electrician.
They don’t make house calls and since I
Can’t take it down, I guess
I’ll have to just get used to
Having light, but somewhat less.
Villanelle: The Dilemma of the Non-Violent – 12
Rule-bound hemmed-in nobody’s free in this world
Everybody must live in fear of the other
The civilized way calls for control steam-rolled
All through gestation trapped in lunging pubic mould
Squeezed out mid cries of joyful gasping terror
Rule-bound hemmed-in nobody’s free in this world
Do’s and don’t’s drive us to assume face made bold
Do unto us as we unto the other
The civilized way calls for control steam-rolled
Step in then those who cannot but take firm hold
Those who must be seen as the holy do-gooder
Rule-bound hemmed-in nobody’s free in this world
As power accumulates in hands Pharoah
The few who believe in being ordained seer
The civilized way calls for control steam-rolled
The few delegate power but not their role
Use abuse their handymen drilled to order
Rule-bound hemmed-in nobody’s free in this world
The civilized way calls for control steam-rolled
© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2015
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