A Reading of the poem Here is a Chisel and Here is a Mallet by M.Katigbak
The relationship of the images – the chisel, the mallet, and the lovers – is coupled to stir emotions to comprehend an analogy of love - a rough kind of love to others, a passionate kind for some. The diverse association of lovers and sculpting tool – a chisel and a mallet – enforce a paradox and their relationship provides the means towards elucidation of the poem.
The form or the arrangement of words is very contemporary. The spacing between words achieves the element of ‘beat’ which is involved by the pounding of the mallet and shaping of the chisel.
Each one withstands how chisel nicks where mallet pound,
marbles slanted scanted to resemble
a curve a shoulder a bone
A man A woman Each one
It is as if sound and sense blends, and the rhythm do not limit its effect on sound alone. This rhythm also directs and controls the intellectual and emotional flow of the poem.
The presentation of the experience is witty and tricky at the same time; an opening of direct natural flow on fifteen lines, yet resolves a quiet impact on the final line –/if they’re to be believed, then love/– leaves a reader unprepared for intensity. The simple description reveals a sudden revelation, enlarging the value of the whole experience by charging with emotional significance, thus lifting a unified effect- a universal analogy.
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