Hidden Opera

Grafted onto a perfectly sufficient afternoon, once again
Was the gratuitous choreography of unspoken human intuition
Much of its florid nature was on full display in the half-empty town square of
Jackson, Mississippi, where an open-air demonstration of
The woodworking skills of Todd Tree was underway
The owner-operator of Todd's Hardware
Todd was, in essence, an evolved beaver that
Under the normal, controlled environment of a professional woodshop
Had the grace of a naturally gifted dancer with the discipline to hone his skill
Through years of apprenticeship and study
His determination unshakeable even under the harsh critique of a master teacher

Humble at his core and functionally ego-less
Todd submitted to the laws and ethics of his craft
Never considering the potential temptation to use his talent merely for self-aggrandizement
Or in a crass exchange of cultural capital
With his tools and a pallet of freshly cut wood
Todd longed only to animate the hidden opera that
Could be revealed exclusively with this particular company of wood saws
Bench planes, hammers and safety equipment, in this particular moment in time
For the otherwise unoccupied onlookers who were his audience to see
But outdoors, with the mere suggestion of wind dancing on his face
Like the voice of an uninvited sports announcer commenting
On an athlete's every correspondence with the mystical reality
They sought to articulate for a crowd of less sophisticated but equally judgmental spectators
Todd lost contact with the Zen mania he required to interface with the elements and achieve excellence