Axe Handles1983One afternoon the last week in April
Showing Kai how to throw a hatchet
One-half turn and it sticks in a stump.
He recalls the hatchet-head
Without a handle, in the shop
And go gets it, and wants it for his own.
A broken-off axe handle behind the door
Is long enough for a hatchet,
We cut it to length and take it
With the hatchet head
And working hatchet, to the wood block.
There I begin to shape the old handle
With the hatchet, and the phraseFirst learned from Ezra Pound
Rings in my ears!
"When making an axe handlethe pattern is not far off."
And I say this to Kai
"Look:We'll shape the handle
By checking the handle
Of the axe we cut with-"
And he sees.And I hear it again:
It's in Lu Ji's