My Tools

My tools are little glass droppers
and insightful turns of phrase.
At least I hope they're insightful;
the droppers I know for sure are small.
I'm often absorbed in thought as to
how many drops of a particular
ingredient I might use. One drop?
Or maybe even two? Scandalous.
How about those meaningless
filler words I have a penchant
for using, just, only, alone.
They're small too, but I feel
quite strongly they can be quite
powerful when used judiciously.
It seems most of my tools, frankly,
are quite small. Most, save for
that one unmentionable tool of which
I've always been quite proud.
Partly because of my experiences
with that, that thing, I would be
the first person to point out that
size doesn't matter nearly as much as
finesse. Take an innocent little
conjunction: it could be just another
meaningless element in a mind-
numbingly, senselessly, absurdly long
excoriation of slacker baristas, or
it might just be the keystone which
pulls one's piece de resistance into
a cohesive whole. Little words can,
and do, carry a great deal of
the weight of the world, even if
only by way of their putting up
with relentless indifference. I
have a profound belief that each
little drop of essential oil I
add to a brew may well turn out
to be steps along the way to
my bliss. Just as I put my all
into each and every preposition,
interjection, and transitive verb.
My tools may often be small
but my aims can only get loftier.

(2008)