Tuesday, August 6, 2024

The British Army Pocket Knife - poem

  

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

The British Army Pocket Knife

 

A great big chunk of folded Sheffield steel

For pocket, backpack, toolbox, or workbench

Rope work, leather work, awning work, rifle repair

Gutting a rabbit for dinner if it comes to that

 

No plastic-y Swiss gimcrackery for us

One tightens the blade by taking a hammer to the rivets

And sharpens it hastily on a handy rock

Wash off the mud and the blood and it’s good to go

 

It’s clanky, clunky, and out-of-date – it’s British

As British as can be - and so are we

 

 

I’m not British, but I needed a voice and a rhyme. My Hall ancestors were transported from Northern England to the New World for being bad, and the same for my deBeauville / Beauville / Beville / Bevil ancestors from Chesterton and my McQueen ancestors from Scotland.

 

I love my nifty British Army knife.

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