Originally posted by A. E. Stallings:
"O Hard-0f-Heart-Clawson"
O Softy Stallings, "pith" ith worth: it thounds like even thofter wood.
"And please note that the poem's title is "Kindling" not firewood. Pine does, I think, serve that purpose very well."
Yes, in Georgia, we call it "light wood" or "fat wood." Excellent for starting fires, even in the wild. It's full of pitch, not "pith."
"...so I went to the chopping-block,"
When WE go to the "chopping block" making "kindling" is a disparagement. It means you missed, not "kissed" the bucked log. One doesn't make kindling at the chopping block. One chops, not shaves, at the chopping block. It's not where cometh "the fine-shaved kindling" without some miraculous axe work. That's too far fetched.
Read Frost's "Two Tramps in Mud Time" to get an accurate fix on chopping wood.
I truly enjoy Talbot's second verse. And If I didn't make firewood, I probably wouldn't object to anything in the poem you offer, because it's nicely crafted. But, as you know, I'm an old geezer, sinewy with knowledge of things like making firewood, smoking fish, and how to dance on rooves.
Thine,
O'Clawson
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