shot glass
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Issue # 6 January 2012
"... brevity is the soul of wit ..."
- William Shakespeare

Charles D. Tarlton


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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