It's just poetry, it won't bite

Broken Images


04.18.15 Posted in today's words by

John Berry is a native Virginian living and working in the Northern Shenandoah Valley. A highly skilled and self-taught woodworker, he has made his living as a carpentry contractor for more than 30 years, mostly as president and chief source of labor for his company, Woodwise Inc. Always a writer, John found a renewed passion for poetry through living in the moment, thereby finding the courage to write freely, unattached to outcomes, exploring craft for the pure joy of doing so. John lives happily and gratefully with his wife Brenda and their two yorkies, Molly and Lily.

Broken Images
By John Berry

My hands have broken
….things that they held
….that otherwise shouldn’t have broken.

Where force and rage
….met oak and ash
….the rending exquisitely pure.

This frothing of splinters
….spinning in pieces
….deliciously snaps at the bruising of bark.

No finer works these hands have created
….my joinery pales to salient parts.

Mortise and tenon and dovetail
….forgotten
….slipping the keyhole of memory’s lock.

These celluloid moments blazing
….illumined,
….sun graven images; reasons unclear,

….still frames surviving
……….the cutting room floor.

 



4 Responses to “Broken Images”

  1. Char james says:

    Very nice, strong poem. Thank you. Where are you located in Virginia. I’m in Rappahannock County and Lways eager to meet other poets. Char

  2. I picture the Shenandoah Valley being built by these hands. Times of struggle and pride. This made me wonder how many pieces of dovetailed work were create d by you.

  3. John Berry says:

    Char, I am in Winchester. Love to meet you sometime.

  4. Peter Heichler says:

    Beautiful poem, John- as a fellow woodworker, I really appreciate the aptness of the imagery! Keep up the good writing!

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