Kerf

by Gareth Farmer

ISBN: 9781739954772

Published: 2022-10

'Kerf' are the sawdust, particles or pieces irrevocably extracted from wood by the blades of cutting implements. Failure to calculate blade thickness when cutting wood can throw off project measurements exponentially. Thin-kerf blades are most accurate for fine woodworking, but they can warp and need careful maintenance. Thick-kerf blades are labour saving but are brute and lack finesse. The poems of Kerf write through themes of woodworking, craft and labour, but these poems also analogise 'kerf' as social and cultural remnants and as examples of disjecta membra. Embedded in and around these themes, the poems in Kerf also explore the author's own, as well as others', experiences of autism and neurodivergence, particularly as manifested in feelings of isolation and in experiences of violence and rejection, but also from the angles of positive and negative obsessions, focus and distraction.