Charles D. Tarlton
Doing Double Duty
Think of the tools in a tool-box: there is a hammer, pliers, a saw, a screw-driver, a ruler,
a
glue-pot, glue, nails and screw.—The functions of words are as diverse as the functions of
these objects.
– Ludwig Wittgenstein
Take the hammer in your hand, exactly the way your father taught you; feel the heft of it, the smooth hardwood handle. Now, the nail—gently—stand it up and drive it in.
he cleaved the ice
block on the back of his truck
like a diamond
cold and wet, the raw crystals
leapt off the deadly pick
help! help! they cried
the lovely acrobats
contortionists
menaced by smiling clowns
the children terrified
Bio
Having taught mainly English and Italian Renaissance political theory at the university level for a long time, Charles D. Tarlton has returned in retirement to a more youthful love-poetry. He has recently published a number of poems in magazines such as Review Americana, Jack Magazine, Houston Literary Review, Tipton, Barnwood, Haibun Today, Simply Haiku, Ink, Sweat, and Tears, Atlas Poetica, Red Lights, Sketchbook, mango moons, and an e-chapbook in the 2River series, entitled, The Vida de Piedra y de Palabra: Twelve improvisations on Pablo Neruda's Macchu Picchu.