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judge tinker bounce loop heaven brutal end stream string track welcome drive
The Tinkerer
“It will come in handy, even if I never use it”
– Ray Kennedy
So many boxes,
All with a label—
More aspirational
Than functional.
He, of course, kept track
Of everything in them—
Nuts, bolts, loops of wire,
String, old clock parts,
Bits of kettles, washing machines,
Drives from phonographs,
Things that puzzled even him,
Some had come to a brutal end,
But were too useful to toss.
He never judged them.
Everything was welcome
And nothing was rejected.
Looking at the room
It was a grandfather’s heaven.
From it emerged
A stream of toys—
The new, the repaired,
The oddly familiar but not,
Things with noise and bounce,
Things to bring a glorious shine
To a young child’s eyes.
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