Timeless Country
"The blades angled tip, recalling a wood-carvers chisel, inclines toward the dark arterial pulse in the pit of his arm, as if reminding him that he too is only ever inches away from that place the drowned girl went, so long ago, that timelessness. That other country, waiting.
He is by trade a keeper to the door of that country.
Drawn, the black blade becomes a key. When he holds it, he holds the wind in his hand."
This is from All Tomorrows Parties by William Gibson... I love it.
Makes me want to run out and buy a Strider Knives BT model, and get it wrapped in a nice concealex shoulder-rig by Survival Sheath Systems... ya know, for all those daily cutting tasks, dismembering the slab of dead beef at dinner, slitting throats from the ass-hole up, prying car-doors off, daily annoyances like that.
Seriously, I love that little piece. Door-keeper of the Timeless Country... lovely.
The knife, like any tool, extends your reach and power, enabling the user to dart out his hand and lay open an opponents flesh with the slightest of touches. But like all things, there is art, and there is practicality.
There is very little artfulness to the practical side of the knife, simply closeness, sweat, stink and blood. What art is left in that may simply be that of mental toughness and luck.
You cannot have life, or death, without some artfulness to it. Can you?