To Larry

dearest larry,
i am building a cedar deck out on morgan bay
as i cut my midspan blocking the old way
the valley way
without measuring but rather by placing the 2x6
across the joists and cutting
each in place
i think of you
walking on the joists
in the distance
your back to me
toenailing joist to plate
down a long run of 2x10
in the newhall sun
your hammer handle narrowly missing
the top of each joist
22 ounces of case hardened steel
repeatedly finding its way through
the long arc of your nebraska farmboy swing
to the head of a gassed and waxed
sixteen penny nail
one to set
whoosh
one to drive
one to set
whoosh
one to drive
joist after joist
back bent
you walked down that work
with the steady rhythm of a rock drummer
was i the only witness
to that miracle of skill?
this image of you remains as vivid
as an ansel adams print
from the letters and occasional telephone conversations
that have loosely connected the 25 years
between then and now
i know that as your body has aged your spirit continues to grow
now, as i approach my 50th year
i want to tell you directly how deeply your
gentle firmness and
open-minded conviction
has impressed itself on this life now so distant from yours.
—Phil Rosenberg, Nashville, Tennessee

Phil Rosenberg had the extraordinary experience of apprenticing under and working with the carpenter/writer Larry Haun for six years beginning in 1972.