There’s a way of putting things aside
things that you’ll need
or need to keep in case you do –
the falls from blocks
rove to advantage,
handy in a loose chain
and the top-rope,
the endless loop that keeps you safe –
that too is not coiled
but the hitches flow into each other
and they can’t lock so
one pull and
the doubled lines
do fall.
There’s pleasure in skill,
pleasure in seeing
how a thumb and two bent finger tops
hold the runs of rope.
It’s intimate opera,
on deck or on the wall.