The oldest joke

in the world,

a chair on three legs

Sawdust kicks

up, swirls

around his boots

and settles

in the cuffs of his

pants. The saw is

as nervous as

a parrot.

The chair

shrinks. After

years of cupboards

and end tables, after

a plywood Santa

and seven elves

for the lawn in the snow,

he knows.

He’s failed, and

in oak.

Next Christmas

he buys himself

and his son

a telescope.