Rectangular labels with red borders
and white field bore hand-lettered
notes–nails, screws, bolts.
Dad stuck them to coffee cans,
full one-pound blue tin cans rinsed
free of their Maxwell House residue.
Heavy with hardware, the bits
of shaped and purposeful steel
that reproduced like workbench
dust bunnies, the cans stood
in a row on the bare wood shelf
in the basement, waiting at attention
for the summons. Find a dozen
or so finishing nails. Look for a bolt
about an inch long and a nut to match.
Then two small hands lifted
the ribbed cylinders down
from the shelves and shook them
one at a time, seasoning
the workbench with a dash
of nails, a pinch of nuts and bolts.

Now coffee comes in white paper cups
with recycled brown sleeves
or opaque and resealable bean bags.
Where will we store our sorted bits
of hardware, when there are no more
one-pound coffee cans?

David M. Frye
April 25, 2009
Denton, Neb.

SW 80th Ct
W Old Cheney Rd
6262
No Hunting
Caution Buried Cable
Before digging
in this vicinity
please call
telephone company
Warning
Underground Cable
Call Collect
402 477 0547
Lincoln Telephone
No Hunting
No Hunting
No Hunting
or Trespassing
STOP
Warning
Up to $500 fine and
imprisonment for removing
or tampering with this sign
Nebraska Code §39-619.01
Lancaster County
Private Property
No Trespassing
No Outlet
SW 77th St
W Old Cheney Rd
Warning
Buried Cable Route
Call before
you dig
anywhere
in this area
Windstream
Call 18
553 OD
No Hunting
or Trespassing
No Hunting
7700
S.W. Fire District
293
U.S.
Mail
Approved by the
Postmaster General
Lincoln
Journal Star
Budweiser
King of Beers
diet
Mtn Dew
zero calorie Dew
Busch Light
Great Taste in an
Easy Drinking Light Beer
Bud Light
Brewed with the finest ingredients for a
refreshingly smooth taste
N218
No Hunting
Stop
Warning
Up to $500 fine and
imprisonment for removing
or tampering with this sign
Nebraska Code §39-619.01
Lancaster County
No Outlet.

David M. Frye
April 24, 2009
Denton, Neb.

The black wire rack
stood in the corner
of a small room
near the cafeteria
and waited patiently
with books in arms
for me to come
with a few coins
moist in my fist
and spin it around
with my free hand
to bring the blue cover
of Danny Dunn and
the Homework Machine
squeaking to a stop
by my outstretched fingers
reaching out to touch
my first book
of science fiction.

I lifted the book
from the rack
paid my thirty-five cents
and stepped across
a threshold
into the first of
countless worlds
of wonder and
promise and
mystery where
ideas and questions
rose like rockets
and shone like stars.

Forty years later
my sense of touch
has grown dull
with technological
calluses but when
Wednesday’s waning
Moon drew near
to Venus before dawn
the near-occultation
turned in my mind’s eye
to align itself above
an ebony monolith
waiting patiently
for the brushing touch
of hominid’s paw
or astronaut’s glove
for the search
the striving that spans
the millennia
and the hope that rises
with hope and wonder
like the Nature-motif
of Also sprach Zarathustra.

David M. Frye
April 23, 2009
Denton, Neb.

Train’s low moan rolls
across stubble field sifts
itself through trees’ branches
and like waves’ foam
crawls wet sand
reaches a sun-bleached shell
now lifted to ear in hope
of catching a whisper
across a crowded world
an assurance, a word
that waves’ rhythmic washing
is more than echo of my pulse.

David M. Frye
April 22, 2009
Denton, Neb.

Posting digital clippings
and scraps of status
on a Facebook page
is a mysterious blend
of personal confession
and concerted performance
conflating billboard
and elevator phone call
with street-corner soapbox
watching one’s mirrored face
and shaping expressions
to achieve an affect’s effect
while a camcorder runs
behind the one-way glass
of self-inflicted surveillance.

David M. Frye
April 21, 2009
Denton, Neb.