Phronimos

How like the beating of a heart
the bass
when it's played
the way
it's supposed to
be played
when you're chest is so tight
and you can hear
every lub dub
every stick tap
on the skin of the drum

and when you try
to take flight
you fall short
not of breath
but because
of broken wings

or some other
subtle pressure
you sin
which is the same
as falling short
so wrote Aristotle
of phronesis
in his Nichomachean

and neither is
the man who aims
at the target
an archer

worth his salt
unless
he actually hits
the mark
not once
or twice
but all the time
consistently
and with a certain ease
that befits
a master
one adept
at this or that craft
with technique
beyond skill
and practical wisdom
in the fingers
that lock the arrow

and draw the bow

he is an archer
who hits the mark
bull's eye through the straw

and doesn't think twice
about his aim
or the tension
on his bow
or the crook of her elbow

or of her knee

or the look
that is more
than the frame of the eye

he is certainly a phronimos
the Greek for better than a mensch
and it would never make sense
with such a virtuoso
to ask
let alone to wonder
who's going drive you home

because of the way
he bashes
with a hammer
driving a spike home
with one blow
he's the kind of carpenter
who says
when he gets it right
that it's an old Egyptian trick
like passing a screw
through a bar of soap

to make it auger
in the days before the drill

and what did he mean
when he said
Aaha
she cried
as she waived her wooden leg
except to
draw attention
to his Yankee

and the way
it adds
torque
to his fist
and certainty to his work.