Tags
bubble, fish, poem, poetry, spirit level
I’d once a job now thought as green
Involving doing things marine.
My job involved collecting gas
That issued from a fish’s ass.
I’d dive into the briny deep,
Collecting fishes’ farts to keep.
I needed ones of different size
But found it wasn’t very wise
To sneak up on a shark’s behind
When it had murder on its mind.
For small ones I was always keen
To find a flatulent sardine.
So if you feel you’re in a rut,
This job is interesting – but,
It really is a lot of trouble
To get a spirit level bubble.
© Dennis N. O’Brien, 2011
dnobrienpoetry 
Dennis, I was laughing with this poem until the final line. The problem may be my USA vocabulary, but I cannot even imagine what “a spirit level bubble” is. Would you explain? Heck, I even like Olivia Newton John and Russel Crowe. Thanks. 🙂
Glad you liked in Job. Well what we call spirit levels (and also I think in the UK) are the standard levels used by carpenters etc. to get something level or plumb. They vary in length and have a small vial of I assume some spirit (or I guess originally it was a spirit) which has a bubble which must be centred when the piece of timber(lumber) etc is plumb or level. Perhaps you could enlighten me as to what they are called in the States.
What clever verse, Dennis. Though, pray tell what was this fishy flatulence used for?
Also, I believe that a spirit level is called a bubble level in the United States,and is often referred to as just a “level.” I recently saw how they make them on the series, “How it’s Made.” It’s a very precise instrument, as one might expect.
Thanks Miss Kitten, they are called levels here as well. Yes they are precision instruments. Using fish flatulence in the Australian levels may explain why a lot of our buildings lean in different directions and why none of our politicians are “on the level”.