The Kingdom of Isaiah and Cousin Peter

 

A nail

was sticking out

of the floorboard in the dining room.

 

Got a hammer

from down in the workroom at the far end of the basement

to remove it.

 

Nail in hand,

twisted it between my fingers.

Bent.

 

Remember the tree house

cousin Peter and I

built?

 

What a great archetypical thing

for boys to do,

fastening plank to plank to branch.

 

A quaint home, up high,

in leaves–

the hidden riches of secret places.

 

We did not waste nails–

limited resources.

So we would take bent nails

 

and hammer them lengthwise against the pavement

or a block of wood

to straighten them.

 

So satisfying: hammering,

making the crooked straight,

one by one,

 

then using same nails

to build a space

in which to peaceably reign.

 

 

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