The last downsize.

[tectak]

I like this but I think if you got rid of some of the asides and just let the story tell itself you'd have a better poem, one that flowed more easily.I mean the things like "Some died, of course" and "Me too." You could do summat like this with the opening verse

There once I cut the dried, dead poles of summer’s dahlia flags,
and sulphur-stained I packed the corms in desiccated sand;
parcelled up in gift-box style for opening in spring.
I left the knife and grubby duster, upon the slatted bench.
An ashtray, too, from long ago topped up with wooden chips;
I can just recall the last vexacious turning on my lathe.
A source of pride, a single table leg; no more again.

I think you do a good enough job of likening yourself to the various tools etc. that you don't need to spell things out so.

Hi penguin,
There is a lot of sense in what you say. The problem I have, is that this one had set in the pan. I wrote the original a while back (2007) and modified it regularly. In truth, the asides were added for this posting. Why? You might ask. Well, it is BECAUSE circumspectively I wanted advertise that I felt the same now as when I wrote
it so I added some bits of contemporaneous me.........and it obviously showed
Nonetheless, I will consider the omission of the stick-ons in the light of further critting. Things are in the balance.Oh,and I changed the "old dog" to the more dual-meaning "last dog"
Best,
Tectak