arch the yew wood bow in your voice and pull
back the hemp bow string and the nock 1
in the shaft of warning made of words and sharp pointed
release
wound the ambitions of that turnspit dog 2
that malformed intruder who leans on the dining room
table in the house where you are guested
where queen and princess or duchess and daughter
come from their sunrise stop at their chamber pots
to eat bread and cheese and to drink beer make
an earthen3 butt of that man priest
who’d be a farm cat old and fur matted
ear torn and one eyed and thin who’d
rub you to a boneless pudding for a fish fillet
he lazes himself out
of the watch for mice and rats and norwegians
before he begins to believe
himself the household steward the marshall the constable empty
a full quiver of take heed at that old bag of black bile
he sits at the table breathes
one breath in the time you breathe three
release that you’ll see him pilloried4
bound to the whipping post
[1] nock: one of the notches cut in either of two tips of horn fastened on the ends of a bow or in the bow itself for holding the string. 2. a. : the part of an arrow having a notch for the bowstring. -Merriam Webster Dictionary.
[2] turnspit Dog: The turnspit dog is an extinct short-legged, long-bodied dog bred to run on a wheel, called a turnspit or dog wheel, to turn meat. It is mentioned in Of English Dogs in 1576 under the name “Turnespete”.[1] William Bingley‘s Memoirs of British Quadrupeds (1809) also talks of a dog employed to help chefs and cooks. It is also known as the Kitchen Dog, the Cooking Dog, the Wheeling Dog, the Underdog and the Vernepator.[citation needed] In Linnaeus‘s 18th-century classification of dogs it is listed as Canis vertigus (also used as Latin name for the Dachshund).[citation needed] The breed was lost, since it was considered to be such a lowly and common dog that no record was effectively kept of it. Some sources consider the turnspit dog a kind of Glen of Imaal Terrier,[2] while others make it a relative of the Welsh Corgi.[3] -Wikipedia
[3] butt: an archery shooting field, with mounds of earth used for the targets. -Wikipedia
[4] pilloried: (locked in) a device formerly used for publicly punishing offenders consisting of a wooden frame with holes in which the head and hands can be locked -Merriam Webster Dictionary
Jake's Flea Market 
Leave a reply to Jake's Flea Market Cancel reply