Estwing Hammer

Naming things is only the intention to make things.
— Frank O'Hara, "Memorial Day 1950"

When you have an idea that grips you
as you grip a finely balanced hammer
like an Estwing, and feel not only that just
about any job is possible but that you are
a professional hammer wielder, a man
for whom swinging a hammer rhythmically
comes easily and naturally with just the right
expenditure of energy;

when you have an idea of a structure
beginning to form in your mind
with extraordinary clarity;

when you have what you think is a sound
idea you can build on;

when dreaming of building you feel you know
exactly what you're doing even if
on waking you feel you might not;

when things begin
to fall into place as if held
by invisible nails that sink
into the pores of the wood: you can hear
the ringing rising in pitch as the nails are driven
deeper to join beam to beam.

The house has already risen,
already admitted him into its various rooms,
already changed the landscape forever.