You drag
empty boxes
from a well-buried cellar
thump them one by one
up the dusty steps
gently
and methodically
slice through duct tape
with your silent box-cutter
fill each virginal square
with a kaleidoscope
of Shakespeare
Sibelius and light
render me gapeseed
excited like taking
a lot of vitamin pills
or drinking
too much coffee
butterflies
under my skin
spring on my forehead
like a high fever
Tess Kincaid
April 2011
Spring usually hits the Midwest like a hot Mack truck, but this year, I've quite enjoyed the gentle, luscious, foggy-soggy-wet-of-a spring. I spontaneously bought a toy kaleidoscope last week, just like the one I had as a little girl. Spring fever. It must be.
April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. William Shakespeare
90 comments:
A kalidascope...another wonderful whimsy has been added to the Manor's cabinet of curiosities. Nice.
My Southern spring has been much too short and too humid to bode well for the coming summer. How I long for temperate dry days.
A nice write and what a great idea to buy a kalidescope.
Enjoy.
Lisa
InspiredbyLisa
nice...i like the gentle flow of your words and the way you make them play...how cool a kaleidascope...we have one of the boys perhaps i will give it a look tonight...
Love kalidascopes and the way they show you that nothing ever has to be the same.
Ive been there before. now, how did you ever take a photo of the inside of a kaleidoscope?
Mmm, isn't it great? I just used my camera's macro setting and propped the kaleidoscope up to the sunlight.
Your poem is a glorious celebration of spring and the fever it brings.
We don't have a lot of rain in Central Oregon ... but last night, all night, it rained gently. Sleeping in my loft under a skylight ... oh yes, spring fever.
That's interesting to know how you did this!
A very kaleidescopic take!
Spring here was short- this year.. too cold and then too hot now!!
Hugs xox
tess i've loved the magic of kaleidoscopes since i was a little kid. i have no idea who gave me my first but my latest is a wooden column with a glass globe at the end. it renders everything even more fantasmagorical!!! steven
Steven, this one is just a toy. I would love to have a real one, like yours! It must be beautiful. You should try taking some photos.
And thoughts are certainly reflecting from those words.
"gapeseed" wonderful word. I must admit to having to look this one up. I love adding new words to my arsenal. We are still awaiting a real, spring here. In the meantime, I marvel at your hopeful prose.
Thanks, Leslie, gapeseed is one I recently jotted down in my notebook, my collection of words. I loved it.
Love the 'butterflies under my skin'!
It is always fun and amazing to find a word that I don't remember ever seeing or using in my 60 years...how has such an old fashioned sounding word such as gapeseed eluded me? Love it!
Love the kalidascope photo too:)
Tess. I love it that you give us a chance to listen to you read your own poetry. A nice feature!
I love Kalidescopes and I am glad you are doing some spring cleaning. What treasures the manor must hold.
Ah, so you an still be a child too. I like that.
Nice!!!! I hope that you have fun with you kaleidoscope! :o)
Wonderful post -- all of it -- the poem, the photos, the words of spring.
Tess, you'd love a shop in Jerome, just up the hill from me. It is absolutely full of kaleidoscopes of various sizes, from tiny hand-held ones to huge ones that come mounted on a stand. And they're all for sale!
Mr. C, it sounds like kaleidoscope heaven!
Beautiful, Tess. I love the vivid details. I felt your excitement.
~laurie
so many wonderful images created in the magic of your picture - very clever and colourful
I wasn't familiar with Sibelius..always an interesting experience here.
I noticed your Netflix...we had fun seeing this with you...enjoy the encor : )
This one takes us to both your past
and your manor, but I still am confused
by dragging /empty boxes/ upstairs
and then having to open them with
a box knife. Where did I go off track?
My favorite line in the piece is within
your aside /Spring usually hits the
midwest like a hot Mack truck/
and another poem lurks there
for sure. Like so many others,
it is the kaleidoscope that pulls
the mysteries together, and nicely
sets the tone.
I like! And, I wish I'd come down with a case of this.
We don't have a basement from which to drag our boxes, but we could stand to purge a thing or two. Probably not such lofty things as Shakespeare & Sebelious though :)
What a fun way to begin the spring, kalidascope colors bursting throughout the world.
Isn't it scrumptious the way certain objects, sounds and smells take us back to our childhood? Love it.
Gorgeous poem, I loved the last verse especially.
Kaleidoscopes - what wondrous things they be! I love your first verse - memories being dragged to the surface and exposed to light and life.
I just read a book about kalidescope construction and am considering making one.
Kristen, that's amazing! Keep us posted on your progress. I would love to see the process.
Have always loved the fever of spring..and love what your kaleidascope brings forth! Magic!!
Love Spring Purge...my house could use one! I've always loved kaleidoscopes. My dad bought me one when I was a tiny girl. I wrote about it this week. Great photo!
Willow,
Spring puts the world in a new and shiny perspective: and every year too!
rel
I have always loved kalidascopes. Having always seen "kiddie" scopes, I was not prepared for the incredible beauty of some of the more expensive ones I saw in later years at elegant shops. They were just dazzling, truly like jewels.
Tess -- Light doth cometh. Along with rain and wind stirring the pot of nature. Ah spring.
That is a nice one, Tess. I admire that you can enjoy this soggy, foggy springtime! I think that all the stuff I have accumulated would look better thru a kaleidescope..
There is nothing more magical than a kaleidoscope. Ever morphing colors, textures, and perspectives give me a thrill like nothing else.
Well, almost nothing else.
TMI, right? I hold you responsible.
Great poem, Tess, as always.
Which child does not love a kaleidoscope? Adults too. It's the magic of those coloured beads and glass swirling on the morrior and making amazing shapes. It's the burst of colour just like the burst of spring. Sheer pleasure as is your poem.
I have a sort-of glass kaleidoscope on my desk at work. It's actually a small wooden cone shape and you look through it and through shaped glass that's supposed to simulate what a fly sees out of its eyes--millions of the same image all at once. I pick it up here and there and just gaze; fascinated. I never get tired of that thing--I've had it for years. "Bright, shiny objects," I guess. Love your kaleidoscope here, and your wonderful poem.
Loved this, esp the last stanza:
butterflies
under my skin
spring on my forehead
like a high fever
You know, kaleidoscopic vision is one of my things...
Like many others, I thought the imagery was excellent...and like a few others, I had to look up gapeseed....which neither I nor my spell checker recognized! vb
Love the closing lines!
Enjoy your words, and the art in your kaleidoscope, the art you share.
Kaleidoscope and Cretan writer, side by side. Your Spring has arrived from the inside-out.
I like your words, as usual.
There is open-mouthed wonder too in all the images in tension that you open the poem with: drag/empty; thump/up; gently slice (duct tape!). I love your ability to create these twists in all your poetry!
I enjoyed reading this. Very vivid :)
The is written on the wings of inspiration. Beautiful imagery and sonorous words.
I esp love your metaphors for excitement. Too many vitamin pills!!butterflies and high fever. Awakening the slumbering self.
How creative of you, Tess. I would never have guessed how you arrived at the prompt photo. We were recently in San Antonio and approaching River Walk is a wonderful blown glass shop. In their window is a gigantic hand blown piece with all these vibrant colors. It resembles your prompt if you peek up into its depths. Loved your offering...do so enjoy opening boxes that I haven't visited in a bit.
World continually await us within duct taped boxes and corners...taking on newer meaning and virtues of time thought disgarded....very nice...bkm
Love this - excellent, perfect.
Yes, is my response to your poem. I had a somewhat longer winded purge. Question: did you mean grapeseed? xxxj
crazy beautiful and dizzy wonderful
here's to many awe filled gapeseed moments :)
Jen, no it's not a typo. It's actually "gapeseed". A cool word I stumbled upon last week.
Gape´seed` (gāp´sēd)
n 1 Any strange sight.
2. A person who looks or stares gapingly.
To buy gapeseed:
to stare idly or in idle wonderment, instead of attending to business.
what a delight to read! this is simply beautiful! :)
"gapeseed" Had to look that one up.
I love "butterflies under my skin
spring on my forehead like a high fever"
A kalidescope of great images. Fun read!
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Spirit of youth, indeed! What a gorgeous poem of purging.
Very good - great imagery from the dust to the light
Okay, this one leaves me wanting more - AND makes me want to clean! :-D
I love the idea of Spring creeping up and emerging out of winter like a familiar pattern appearing in a kaleidescope. Brilliant Tess.
I imagined each step
you had to take
to thump those boxes
up the staircase ...
the determined look
on your face,
the boxes in your mind
already filled with
the gaudy dreams
that filled winter's
long dark nights
The delight of spring is that everyting's busting out at once, for a brief, scintillant, fragrant season. So many surfaces and prisms in this poem -- love the confluence of Shakespeare Sibelius and light, burning mind ear and eye into one kaleidoscopic Yes.
The delight of spring is that everyting's busting out at once, for a brief, scintillant, fragrant season. So many surfaces and prisms in this poem -- love the confluence of Shakespeare Sibelius and light, burning mind ear and eye into one kaleidoscopic Yes.
Beautifully vivid, Tess. The dusty thump of boxes, silent slicing of age old and versatile duct tape...everything gray and dull until the awakening of color as seen through the kalidescope! Love it!
Yay Tess! A wonderful inspirational prompt yet again! In a month of Sundays I would have never considered it!
Cheers! Anna :o]
I heard the thump of boxes as I looked through my kaleidescope of memories.....
I loved kaleidescopes that allowed me to change the contents and therefore gave me endless entertainment!
Thanks for the great prompt!
Beautiful...
diamonte
love this Tess...mysterious words that need not be understood to be felt.
Vivid moment of experience
LOVED that last stanza... it kinda gave me goosebumps.. very nice!!!
Just lovely! I'm of the opinion that everyone should own a kaleidoscope. :)
Spring Has Sprung With A Kaleidoscope
of Shakespeare ! I Like It!
Oops! Fingers all thumbs!
I hope you enjoyed your kaleidescope as much as I enjoyed your poem. Now I must Google "gapeseed"!
The treasures to be found in a cardboard box from the cellar! In my case it was a box from my grandmothers attic. To this day, the smell of mothballs reminds me of that attic. The thump, thump was MUCH easier going down! :)
A spring purging with bright dazzling lights! I am happy to have found Magpie Tales ... you have inspired me to write once again, it has been a while. Your Kalidescope's brightness was indeed dazzling!
I'm all gapeseed over this one. So true of what we do for spring--and then how it feels when it hits!
Thank you.
every line counts.
enjoyed the flow tremendously.
well done.
Such delightful thoughts in this one Tess....spring is here! :-)
A fine shakedown of shapes and colours here, Tess. What a sharp pair of sign-off lines. I enjoyed this.
The objects and interests that have held our attention all winter can now be put away to make room for the fresh, bright, new things of spring. However, seeing the stack of items to be stored starts them swirling like a kaleidoscope: the music, the books... a world being left behind, but also the possibilities of a new world in springtime leaving me gapeseed... The imagery here is amazing, Tess. And the metaphor of the kaleidoscope for seasonal change is exquisite. ♥
Lots of memories with kalidascopes. Lots of dust with spring cleaning.
I am gapeseed at your kind and generous comments. You are the best readers in the blogosphere, my friends. Thank you.
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