Hardware is magic
only wizards can work.
Molly bolts that fold and … sproing.
Chain goes clank. Pulleys go squeak.
Eye bolts, can they see?
Faucet handles like fingers of porcelain.
Tiny springs from ballpoint pens.
Big springs from who-knows-what.
Ornate doorknobs to open a mystery.
Spark plugs. Radiator caps. Just add car.
U-bolts, aren’t they cool?
Wing nuts, perhaps they’ll fly.
Cleats for string. Cotter pins … for what?
Accumulated these fifty years
in coffee cans, cigar boxes, in jelly jars
for some purpose I knew would come.
Now my grandson, here.
I can see in your eyes you are ready.
For you, cheerful wizard.
Make magic.


© by Joe Cottonwood.
Used here with the author’s permission.