Practicing His Craft

An herbaceous arbor flanks
the harbor where he labors
fitting words to spaces -- blanks
he fills, erases. He savors
bits of meaning, sculpting sound
to logic's shape, annealing word
and image, polishing a verbal mound
congealing on his pad. A bird chirps.
Song distracts. A moment's lapse.
He compares the bird's with his own work,
considers form and content, sees the gaps,
tosses his dead page into the water's murk.