Manufacture, by Levi Wagenmaker
‘manufacture’
the grille in front
the printed instructions delivered
with the new dark indigo gas-stove
warned
cannot guarantee
to fully protect
children or the disabled
the grille’s metal mostly holes
or rather
the grille’s tenth of an inch holes
entirely framed
in a roundabout manner
by metal spray-painted
dark indigo-blue
as part
of a process of manufacture
but no
the use of the word manufacture
cannot guarantee
the manufactured item
to be partly or entirely hand-made
it is however
entirely possible
that it may have been produced
by children or the disabled
it did not cost all that much
you see
Levi Wagenmaker (1944 – ) is a retired journalist, living in the Netherlands
for most of the year, and in France for some of it (in spring and autumn),
with three bitches, two of whom are dogs.
