Saturday, August 7, 2010

a texture


We have a non-power lawn mower, appropriate to our small yard. Long stems of grass and other plants get wound around the axles between where the blades are and the wheels. Today I used a kitchen pairing knife, serrated, sharp, not too big, and thought, at last, the tool I've needed. The texture of the grass against the sawing knife. The sense of accomplishment when I've picked the axle clean.
I want "toothsome" to mean gratifying to one's teeth, in a texture-y way, and "handsome" to mean gratifying to the hand, in a texture-y way. Our language doesn't have an adequate vocabulary fThe art required is one of mataphor and comparison, and those are treasures, but wo would be words for these sense-of-touch sensations. And it wasn't just the sense of touch: the sound of the knife's serrations rubbing against the grass was part of what was satisfying, and our vocabulary for our sense of hearing isn't so great either.

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