Spring 2008 High School Edition
The Hacking Cough Exploded Like Clock Work
Tagert Smith
Poetry (11th-12th)
Second Place
Parowan High School
Teacher: Gail Harris
The hacking cough exploded like clock work.
If he wasn't smoking he was coughing.
His black, grease-covered hands would flinch and jerk,
As he would slowly snatch tools while chatting.
His frame could be no larger than five feet;
His build was skinny, no more than a child's.
His skin had been tanned brown from the sun's heat.
His talk was about youth when he was wild.
Always he was ready to fix something.
Tinkering on projects they came alive.
Wrench in hand he would begin the twisting,
While the engines were starting to revive.
Smoke to smoke he brought all machines to life,
Step by step he walked right out of my life.
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