Monday, August 22, 2011

kings of siam




A line of royals
traveling lazy Susans
some kind of magicians

we learn to stutter
use hand signals
stretch wide as wings
in the open wind

our fleshy transmitters
pick up signals
from Sky King
or King Kong

there is no wrong
side of the tracks
only rock, paper, scissors

we ride around like sultans
meaning no harm



Tess Kincaid
August, 2011




Recorded by the most competent R.A.D. Stainforth.  Check out his excellent blog, Black Dogs.


More Magpie Tales here


I found this unidentified photo in a stack of ephemera in a Missouri antique shop. 

65 comments:

  1. This just rolls like a cigarette...it reminds me of Tom Waits

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  2. Wow! Intriguing... I especially like the last five lines.

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  3. nice...used to listen to radio shows back in the day...that is how i first heard star wars actually...this has a great feel to it tess...

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  4. This has a great feel of "back in the day" to it and the invincibility of the young.

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  5. Don't they just look like they own the world?

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  6. you are the best, renaissance girl. wow.

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  7. The photo, perfect...the poem , divine...time on your blog, priceless ;)

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  8. God, Sky King--haven't thought of that in years! Wonderful, and the photo couldn't be more perfect for this.

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  9. This has such a lovely and easy feel. Terrific.

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  10. We used to "cruise" back in the day...fun memories. And we were just playing rock, paper, scissors : )

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  11. Reminds me of when 'going for a ride' was a Sunday treat. Nice evocation, Tess!

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  12. Sorry my tale is a downer but that picture looked so familiar. Amazing piece of writing, of course,
    QMM

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  13. BTW do you know when we will receive our books. I ordered one early on.
    QMM

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  14. QMM, soon now, on the books...they are running several weeks behind schedule...

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  15. images of people from Delaware ended up in Missouri?

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  16. we ride around like sultans meaning no harm - how true this is in those days we called our youth (I'm old enough to say that)

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  17. Jack Armstrong, Captain Midnight, and me, riding my two-wheeled motor vehicle
    called a WHIZZER. All over the city--Cincinnati. None of us meant harm. And we WERE sultans.
    PEACE!

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  18. Love the way you captured the photo as if you had been there....the last two lines are awesome Tess!!

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  19. Which came first; the photo or the poem? I'm sure those two girls must be sisters.

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  20. Unidentified photos can intrigue, as this one does. Great poem to match, Tess!

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  21. Oh for those days when were sultans, Tess. Excellent post.

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  22. A most evocative piece this. I read it over several times: it has a nice sound quality and I agree with Rene – it just rolls off the tongue. The final line was a particularly intriguing choice.

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  23. Easy smiles, thrown away miles in adventurous content.
    I also like the ghostly apparition of the photographer in the dusty paint between the windows.
    Lovely poem Tess! Cheers!

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  24. Love the poem, and that picture is flippin' AWESOME. Something about the girl in the front seat reminds me of you.

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  25. Like the double entendre of sultanas!

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  26. Tess,
    Before the world was too much upon us.
    rel

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  27. "there is no wrong
    side of the tracks
    only rock, paper, scissors" -

    a good natured innocence that travels through time like radio signals through space.

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  28. Final two lines for me!
    Masterful evocation.

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  29. Ah yes, hand signals. I remember those.

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  30. Perfect!I enjoyed this very much Tess...I liked the last two lines best!

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  31. No harm! only 100% fun- right you are.

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  32. What fun. I like to imagine what their names were and how they lived their lives. Did they remain friends? I like the image of "wide as wings in the open wind".

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  33. the guy in the back is the king...

    how about the guy reflected inteh paint? There is a poem.

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  34. Yes, I think the reflection of the guy taking the picture is very intriguing...

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  35. Dear Tess: The "kings of siam" is pure magic!

    our fleshy transmitters
    pick up signals

    Twas the time of the radio and new fangled tv and the new unseen saves penetrating and maybe seering flesh.. Aye, royalty all!

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  36. Tess -- teen-age-hood! Let me count the ways we have changed since your photo was taken. Yesterday the focus seemed to be outward -- while today's teen-age-hood seems to focus inward. Cute photo -- barbara

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  37. Love the idea of the Sultans.
    I too thought the girl in front was some relative of yours until I read the footnote.

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  38. Everything about your poem takes me back to those days .. Sky King rocked then, still does.

    You rock too!

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  39. Great poem...I just really love how you put it all together!

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  40. The title is one of the best parts
    of this whimsical beauty, back
    in the 50's and 60's when five
    of us, mostly guys would go out
    and cruise all over Seattle, looking
    for girls, drag racing, hollering epithets
    out the windows; and yet we never
    won a race, got the girls, upset
    anyone, and did no harm. Besides
    learning to stutter we learned to
    talk with a hair lip and talk backwards:
    it was sery vimple to igger it fout, just had
    to clisten losely.

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  41. Love the way you integrate more oldies into the text - fun prompt

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  42. as ever, Tess, loving the way you spark off your ephemera-- such a poignant and eerie photo in so many ways-- lovely write-- I remember the phrase kings of siam...xxxj

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  43. Love this - particularly the end-line. Wish I'd written this (said in an amiable, non-jealous way).

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  44. You speak of a world I never knew but I enjoyed the image of it.

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  45. so loved
    so admired
    so charming
    so fun

    I thought
    Don't cry for me Argentina
    Evita Peron

    but what do i know
    a jot from the country
    reading words
    ode to joy

    Ludvig himself
    could not employ finer
    in a caravan
    of Symphony #10
    the unwritten.

    Sky King King Kong
    sent my jillies jollying
    at full pop.

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  46. Anon, I'm glad I made your jillies jolly.

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  47. Love the nostalgia that pours out of this!

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  48. On the road we could be anything. Agreed. "Sky King" brings back wonderful memories!

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  49. I like how you capture an innocence of mind when we ride and ride an ride with only the moment at hand. Love this poem, Tess!

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  50. wait a minute, what's this about Susan's being lazy. LOL.

    wonderful feel to this poem and great prompt.

    I think I adore R.A.D. what a voice! what a wonderful interpretation of your poem!

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  51. Like Penny in the Songbird, this piece took flight...

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  52. This is a Pleasure, Tess. Let's hear it for Sky King (and Penny)

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  53. i'm still trying to get Christopher Walken for a reading

    ha

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  54. it is pure enjoyment, seeing the picture with your work, I can almost see things moving. :)

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  55. Sure makes me wish for a time machine to just for a moment experience those moments, sensations, again.

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  56. Ah, nostalgia! It evens out the rough and makes kings of commoners!

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  57. I love the title Tess, so evocative in itself...kids, not a care in the world. They are kings!

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  58. Very nice! Riding around always was big fun at that age.

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  59. The picture was a real find, Tess. And I find your Magpie close to real (reference to Sky King...love it).

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  60. Thanks, Gentle Readers, for your kind and generous comments. It is a pleasure to share my poetry with you. xx

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)