The Art Of The Lathe Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABACD EFGHCIJKL MNCAO KPQRSTSUCS VCIWCXY ZXCSRA2XC XICB2C2X PXXXD2ASSXISC SD2CCSS

Leonardo imagined the first oneA
The next was a pole lathe with a drive cordB
illustrated in Plumier's L'art de tourner en perfectionA
Then Ramsden Vauconson the great MaudslayC
his student Roberts Fox Clement WhitworthD
-
The long line of machinists to my leftE
lean into their work ungloved hands adjusting the calipersF
tapping the bit lightly with their fingertipsG
Each man withdraws into his house of workH
the rough cut shearing of iron by tempered steelC
blue black threads lifting like locks of hairI
then breaking over bevel and ridgeJ
Oil and water splash over the whitening bit hissingK
The lathe on night shift moonlight silvering the bed waysL
-
The old man I apprenticed with Roy GarciaM
in silk shirt khakis and Florsheims CautiousN
almost delicate explanations and slowC
shapely hand movements Craft by repetitionA
Haig and Haig behind the tool chestO
-
In Diderot's Encyclopaedia an engravingK
of a small machine shop forge and bellows in backP
in the foreground a mandrel lathe turned by a boyQ
It is late afternoon and the copper light leaking inR
from the street side of the shop just catchesS
his elbow calf shoe Taverns begin to crowdT
with workmen curling over their tankardsS
still hearing in the rattle of carriages over cobblestoneU
the steady tap of the treadleC
the gasp and heave of the bellowsS
-
The boy leaves the shop cringing into the lightV
and digs the grime from his fingernails blueC
from bruises Walking home he hears a clavierI
Couperin maybe a Bach toccata from a window overheadW
Music he thinks the beautifulC
Tavern doors open Voices Grab and hustle of the streetX
Cart wheels The small room of his life The darkening skyY
-
I listen to the clunk and slide of the milling machineZ
Maudsley's art of clarity and precision sculpture of poppetX
saddle jack screw pawl cone pulleyC
the fit and mesh of gears tooth in groove like interlaced fingersS
I think of Mozart folding and unfolding his napkinR
as the notes sound in his head The new machinist sings Patsy ClineA2
I Fall to Pieces Sparrows bicker overheadX
Screed of the grinder the bandsaw's groan and wailC
-
In his boredom the boy in DiderotX
studies again through the shop's open doorI
the buttresses of Suger's cathedralC
and imagines the young Leonardo in his apprenticeshipB2
staring through the window at Brunelleschi's domeC2
solid yet miraculous a resurrected body floating above the cityX
-
Outside a cowbird cries flapping up from the pipe rackP
the ruffling of wings like a quilt flung over a bedX
Snow settles on the tops of cans black rings in a white fieldX
The stock cut clean gleams under lamplightX
After work I wade back through the silence of the shopD2
the lathes shut down inert like enormous animals in hibernationA
red oil rags lying limp on the shouldersS
of machines dust motes still climbing shaftsS
of dawn light hook and hoist chain lying desultoryX
as an old drunk collapsed outside a barI
barn sparrows pecking on the shores of oil puddlesS
emptiness wholeness a cave a cathedralC
-
As morning light washes the walls of FlorenceS
the boy Leonardo mixes paints in Verrocchio's shopD2
and watches the new apprentice muddleC
the simple task of the Madonna's shawlC
Leonardo whistles a canzone and imaginesS
a lathe the spindle bit and treadle the gleam of brassS

B H Fairchild



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