I fill the reservoir with mixed fuel, and
Wind the plastic string around its dedicated post.
All that is left is to master the screw/spring/string assembly,
And to pump the bulging eye of the fuel gauge,
And pull hard on the handle/string.

It will not start upon the first pull, or the second, or the third.
It will require fiddling with the little fuel spigot:
The blue spot and then the red
And all those nuances known to readers of manuals.

And it will require considerable prayer and much patience.
Then it will sputter, and upon the next to last or the second next to last
Pull it will start.
And once warming to hot, like a lover,
It will resist being extinguished.

________________________
James Bolner, Sr.
Bodoc,
Good Friday, 2001