Aliens would render us useless
if they sucked all our nails
with some powerful magnet,
like a big vacuum sweeping
up bobby pins.
We would be a mess
without our carpet tacks
and gutter spikes,
penny size brads
hammered down with the gusto
and sweat of a nation's brawn.
A rapture of galvanized proportions,
they'd leave the buns and beehives
of our landscape
in disheveled heaps, raped,
uncoiffed bedrooms and barns,
towns of bad hair days
scattered across America.
.
.
willow, 2010
.
for more Magpie Tales participants click [HERE].
I'm back from Kansas. Sad days, planes, trains and automobiles.
Thank you all so very much for your emails, comments and
cards. Hopefully, I'll be back on schedule and make my way up
your particular street in the bloggyhood this week. I've missed you!
That's a striking image, the "uncoiffed bedrooms and barns,
ReplyDeletetowns of bad hair days
scattered across America", the havoc left behind by the big vacuum you conjure up in the first stanza. Did it occur to you as you gazed across the landcape of coiffed homes and barns on the way to Kansas and back?
By the way, the word verification I got for this comment was "tantrica" ... hmmm ...interesting
Yes, the beautiful rural farmland of the midwest on the drive to Kansas and back did inspire this piece, Lorenzo. I'm so easy to read. hee.
ReplyDeleteI thought of you these past few days, knowing they had to be a difficult. Wishing you a restful week.
ReplyDeleteI love this! Great images -- A rapture of galvanized proportions -- Someone need to make a movie of this NOW!
ReplyDeleteMasterful images.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're safely home, Willow.
Wow, strong imagery, love this poem and have to agree with Lorenzo that your trip is reflected in this piece. My sympathy to you and yours - may memories of your loved one bring comfort and peace.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are home...my thoughts have been with you and your family.
ReplyDeleteBobby pins, buns and beehives....excellent choice of words, absolutely excellent!
Thanks, all. I'm taking it slow this week, doing travel laundry and catching up on my blog friends.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the value of salt i King Lear. Funny how we'd be lost without the most mundane items. Nicely structured too.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see the movie this poem might spawn. Do you think that adobe would work at all well in Ohio?
ReplyDeletewow. you have created quite the beautiful chaos in this one...where would we be without our nails?
ReplyDeletehaving a hard time nailing this one myself...
In some ways I think of the nails and brads as something strong to hold things together, and you have just been through an event that takes things apart.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, we would be a mess. Well done, Willow! And welcome back home.
ReplyDeleteI hope your family is doing well. The occasions such as this pull us all together.
We missed you. This is a ponderous poem, weighty for its volume!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful imagery, Willow!
ReplyDeleteWelcome back!
Glad you are home. Feel better.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes.
yvonne
Willow:
ReplyDeleteIt could only happen in Kansas -- it conjured up the classic image of Wizard of Oz with Dorothy and her house being sucked up in a big dark cloud of nails swirling around -- and landing on an alien star ship.
Powerful imagery and creativity.
Joanny
Thinking of you. Glad to hear you made it home safe.
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed this poem, Joan T
ReplyDeletewonder what their alien plans are...just to throw a wrench into things, i guess. fun stuff.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine the mayhem!
ReplyDeleteI expect writing this proved to be quite a catharsis in the aftermath of what you've been through. It was cathartic even for me. Well undone.
ReplyDeleteKat
Haven't been by for several days. Now I need to see what I missed.
ReplyDeleteWow to the poem. I love your poetry.
Willow!
ReplyDeleteThis one is a winner.
Vivid strong and a most wonderful image over the whole thing.
Now I must meditate on nails.....
"Aliens would render us useless
ReplyDeleteif they sucked all our nails
with some powerful magnet..."
What you wrote so beautifully actually just happened here, in Connecticut, with near hurricane-force winds. Your lines really hit home.
So beautifully constructed..so easily taken apart..isn't that always the way!
ReplyDeleteexcellent work...willow.
ReplyDeleteyou cast quite the web...
much love
Such a talented person you are. What else is lurking there?
ReplyDeleteSo glad to have you back. I've missed you popping up in my dashboard.
ReplyDeleteI just had a fascinating vision of all this pointed metal rocketing skyward above a rolling cloud of dust as everything collapsed -- wonderfully strange take on the prompt...
ReplyDelete...rob
Image & Verse
Loving these images, Willow!
ReplyDeleteIn another life, while renovating a decrepit old farmhouse, I pulled buckets of nails from the floors, walls, - everywhere, really - all places they didn't need to be, mind you, just pounded in randomly, and as I got to the end of the project I began to (half) joke that "this will be the nail that's holding the whole house together." Happily that wasn't the case.
Where would we be without our nails? Mud huts. Caves. No, thank you.
Welcome home.
xox,
Susan
Imaginative! So manybe aliens are not as advanced as we thought..nails don't sound so 6th level of advanced civilization; however; ya never know! Fun poem Willow, with lots of 1950's imagery. Beehive's and the B52's Rock Lobster! So glad you are back now, sure missed you!
ReplyDeletewillow you nailed this image with your words. my thoughts and my heart are with you. steven
ReplyDeleteLove the imagery of a undone world of boards, roofs and carpeting. Where would we be without the glue that holds us tethered to this life?
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you and WT are at the Manor again. May the healing continue in you home this week.
I have been away and I had no idea you were dealing so much pain. My thoughts go out to you.
ReplyDelete'towns of bad hair days
ReplyDeletescattered across America.'
I likes it!
I rather understand what you write than your poems.
ReplyDeleteAll these black and white pictures remind me of the distant past.
ReplyDeleteOh , I really like this Willow.
ReplyDeletego slow this week
Missed you too Willow. Glad you are back safe and sound, and hope youu can rest a little. Your poem reminds me of when my daughter started school. She was growing out a fringe, and her hair was everywhere, and even a ponytail couldn't contain it, so we resorted to bobby pins to help it look tidy and contained. Her teacher said,"looking at your child's head, I think thank goodness there's no giant magnet to beam her up - she'd be up and out of here in a flash..."
ReplyDeleteDear, dear Willow! I am so glad you are home safe and sound and know you must be a wreck emotionally from what you have been through. Know that all or our thoughts are with you. We are all united in thought. We are all one.----I love what some people have said about you "nailing it" in this poem. They are all so right! You have done it again, my friend. I am still pondering mine. Hope it even comes close.
ReplyDeleteNow that about does it all; a mixture of many things that are not quite nailed down! I am amazed at how you did that. From aliens to barns, galvanaized!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHope you and WT find the warmth of sunshine in spring to help heal your hearts.....
ReplyDeleteWell I suppose in sad days that probably means a close-knit family which is a true gem in itself. I hope you and WT are managing as well as can be expected with such a sad loss.
ReplyDeleteyou poem is fantastic, btw, as always. What a funny concept that indeed we would be rendered useless without our nails and tacks. Never thought of that before. Nicely done unique take on the photo.
Nails and brads...helping us hold our lives togetherin so many ways. Yes.
ReplyDeleteLoved your poem very much, the way you have built the images to help me visualise the ungainly heap our world will fall into without nails.
ReplyDeleteI like the 'bad hair day' line willow. Great image.
ReplyDeletewillow, you have so many strong images, for a box of nails -- this one is pretty heavy.
ReplyDeletebut *amn good!
You poem reminds this Ozarks farm chick of just another day 'round these parts. It was beautifully written, girl and I totally enjoyed it. :o)
ReplyDeleteFrom the hills and hollers of the Missouri Ponderosa, ya'll have a wonderfully blessed day!!!
Of course you had me at aliens.
ReplyDelete"uncoiffed bedrooms and barns"
I love this Willow!
Now I am going to check out Magpie Tales.
Welcome back to your lovely home - here of course, as well as Willow Manor
ReplyDeleteI would be in a world of hurt without my push pins, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteNails hold our world together, for sure.
Glad you're home. Sending much love.
What an imaginative poem. It's fun to go where you take me with this. With a word, with a photo, you take us to a place we've not imagined ourselves...
ReplyDelete"Towns of bad hair days scattered across America"--simply gorgeous imagery, Willow!
ReplyDeleteoriginal ideas in this poem. a return to making homes by weaving branches perhaps.
ReplyDeleteBecause your posts make me laugh and I so enjoy the goings on :) in the Manor
ReplyDeletehttp://goddessofmoons.blogspot.com/2010/03/beautiful-bloggerwell-maybe-its-goal.html
Willow ... my heart is with you. I know this has been a difficult time for you.
ReplyDeleteOkay ... I absolutely LOVE this piece! I'm sitting here trying to imagine a world without nails now. ha! This was precious! VERY visual!!
Hello Willow and welcome home.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts immediately went to those executive magnetised desk toys from which one can make such fantastic structures! Such an imaginative interpretation of the prompt.
this reminds of the post I almost wrote for this prompt...inspired by my trauma nursing days.... flying nails in the truck of a construction worker after a head on collision...
ReplyDeleteyes, striking images indeed
ReplyDeleteand yes, I did feel kansas
:)
amazing how a poem about aliens, nails, and "uncoiffed bedrooms and barns.." is beautiful and insightful
ReplyDeleteWow... this is great... kind of seeing the big picture. Maybe we need to make unmagnetized nails from now on. You are a quick creative thinker! :) The Bach
ReplyDeleteI think this is my favourite of your poems Willow. The images are great big - and with a different metaphor every time I read. It's whimsical and deep and serious. Kind of like you?
ReplyDeleteAmazing poem, story and visuals!
ReplyDelete