What is a Jack?

Jack

Prepare yourself to brave the stack
Of meanings for the small word Jack
A word that means a multitude of things
For example I found out
It is a flag that flaps about
On a ship to say from whence it springs

In Bowls, the game some old folk play,
A jack is the white ball which they
Aim at when they roll their balls around
On that note let’s not forget
A Jack’s the small pointy object
You play with when playing Jacks while on the ground

I’ve also come to understand
That a jack most often can
Simply be a word that just refers
To nothing other than a man
As in “the jack of all trades can
fix anything” is something that I’ve heard

Of course I am not finished yet
It would be silly to forget
That a jack is used under your car
Or any heavy thing that can
Not be picked up by a man
Mechanical unlike the plain crowbar

If you’re cooking on a spit
A sheep, a cow or glazed piglet
A jack is a clever wee contraption
That will turn your roast around
While you crank the handle round
Making possible the spinning action!

And that hole in your PC
Or whatever plays your MP3s
The one in which your headphones plug into
The one that techy geeks refer
As being in point of fact a “her”
That little hole for plugs is a jack too!

And although there is probably
More things that a jack can be
I would like to close by stating that
A masculine male donkey
Is also apparently,
Yep you guessed it, is also a jack!

By Kerin Gedge

Copyright 2013

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