Splitting Wood
Hart, William
William Hart Splitting Wood When the wood is soft and seasoned, it opens with a ripping noise as the grain is cleaved. Two log halves fall backward in the dirt. The heartwood glows bright in the...
...But when the wood is hard or green or soaked with rain it can, as the ax comes flashing down clam like an iron maiden to repel the blade with a dull thonk...
...A thunderbolt of unspent energy travels the ax handle buzzing the chopper's hands testing every tendon...
...The obstinate log lies now on its side, dented unsplit, more pissed off than ever, the secrets of its seasons as a tree locked tight in the chambers of its dark resentful heart.art...
...The heartwood glows bright in the sun...
Vol. 123 • November 1996 • No. 20
