PAPERCLIP

Who could combine as inscrutably
neither frowning nor approving
but, clearly having made a stand
at the top left of the paper, slipped
on and easily removed by hand.
Unwound into twisted cranks
between fingerprints and nails;
devised to mark, deface, scratch
a school desk, puncture wild eggs;
bulldog clips are no match
for versatile, self-enveloping
wire, three times its length un
stretched; has fixed breaks, bridles,
picked locks, prospected ear wax;
bees knees - its press never idle.

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