Defenseless

Kristen Lenea Ryberg #4 from The Gun Series

play the audio to listen to an intro to the poem and the poem

DEFENSELES   Gun Series #4
                                                        ~Spalted Maple's rainbow colors come from a fungi, 
                                                          left to its own devices, can totally decimate a tree. 
It's late
in the bare-bulb lit 
metal shed
the lathe turns
engine echoes
the man shapes
the gnarled wood
holds the steel 
facing tool steady
driven to shape
something of use
from this
Spalted Maple stump
saved on his special shelf
but this time
his making is empty
there is nothing 
he can form  
to hold the ashes
doesn't pick up 
the parting tool 
used to remove  
a finished piece
instead 
grinds 
it 
down
all of it
to a pile of curls on the floor
he scoops in his hands 
thinks about swallowing them
ends up knees fallen  
heaves
while the lathe motor whirs.