When I was in high school, one of my English teachers, who really encouraged me in creative writing, used to make us do this exercise. Pick a common object (animate or inanimate, large or small) and write a one page description of it WITHOUT stating the object by name. It was a great way to force the writer to be descriptive. So, I thought I would try it again here. See if you can guess what it is.
***************************************************
One end is deceptively round, innocuous, curving to fit into my hand. One handle is larger, cradling several fingers and scratched from use. The other is smaller, more like the eye in a giant needle where my thumb fits. On the outside the handles are black and the inside, blue. Such violent colors for such a common and useful item. Did the makers think about that when they designed it?
Stretching from the handle the dull silver gleams, tapering to a point and the harmless handles are left quickly behind. A rivet joins the halves and looks like an eye. When the handles are parted and the ends gape, it has the look of a hungry raptor with a straight beak, just waiting for something soft and tasty to pass before its maw.
The mouth is made of two intersecting blades, sharp on the inside, thick and blunted on the outside. The striations on the inside give witness to how often they have been used, over and over, without thought to the destruction they can cause when used inappropriately.
For something that spans the length of my hand, it has so many uses. But even when it is helpful it is destructive... even though it creates something new, making something different from original, cutting through bonds or setting something free.
No comments:
Post a Comment