a workshop apron

heavy duck cotton, waxed twice, the colour of an autumn that has already happened. one breast strap, two deep pockets at the hips that have learned the curl of a folded rule and a flat carpenter's pencil. tied behind, low, so the knot does not press at the bench.

the man whose apron this was kept its left pocket for stubs of pencil and the right for small numbers jotted on offcuts. there is still sawdust in the seams; there will always be. dust does not so much leave an apron as become it.

field-note · take it down before you sit. an apron is not for sitting in. it is for standing up.

it hangs nearest the bench, between the glue pot and the door that lets the cold in.