"Handyman"

Milton has been posting poems from The Writer's Almanac this week. I enjoyed today's poem so much I thought I'd do the same. Here it is:

"Handyman" by Barton Sutter, from Farewell to the Starlight in Whiskey. © BOA Editions, 2004. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

Handyman

The morning brought such a lashing rain
I decided I might as well stay inside
And tackle those jobs that had multiplied
Like an old man's minor aches and pains.
I found a screw for the strikerplate,
Tightened the handle on the bathroom door,
Cleared the drain in the basement floor,
And straightened the hinge for the backyard gate.
Each task had been a nagging distraction,
An itch in the mind, a dangling thread;
Knocking a tiny brass brad on the head,
I felt an insane sense of satisfaction.
Then I heard a great crash in the yard.
The maple had fallen and smashed our car.

Note: I loved this poem for its use of language and the surprise at the end. As I was pasting this thing into my blog I realized this is a sonnet: the rhyme scheme is abba abba abba cc. How cool is that!