Invention

The wrong end of the stick.
The stick for beating the mule.
The dog’s stick, covered in drool.
That we whittled
for the sake of whittling.

The stick that went with the stone,
that broke the bone.
The one carved as a cane
and gone on a long journey.
The tallyman’s stick,
each notch an item of cargo
or phase of the moon.

The last and first of sticks
in a house of sticks,
pigs squealing their little pig-squeals
and the bad wolf over-excited –
breathless, but delighted.

Bruce McRae

07/15/2011