T.R. Hummer

Tool & Die

In the final unburdening, massive crates are moved

from vehicle to loading dock into the labyrinth

Of the terminal, where synchronized forklifts reenact

the marriage of Heaven and Hell. Let it all go.

It’s a heavy freight you’ve carried. It’s a long, lonesome road

the soundtrack sang, road music on your inner radio.

The body has its weight and wants to use it

till it’s time. Unload. The warehouse of the snow

Is empty, pilgrim, the invoice blank, its spaces oblivious

to the lathe, the jig, the torch, the grinding wheel.

Author: T.R. Hummer

R. Hummer’s most recent books of poetry are After the Afterlife (Acre Books) and three linked volumes, Ephemeron, Skandalon, and Eon (LSU Press). Former editor-in-chief of The Kenyon Review, of The New England Review, and of The Georgia Review, he received a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship in poetry, a NEA Individual Artist Grant in Poetry, the Richard Wright Award for Artistic Excellence, the Hanes Poetry Prize, and the Donald Justice Award in Poetry. He lives in Cold Spring, NY.

Plume: Issue #14 August 2012