Nails
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
bad hair days scattered
across America
Tess Kincaid
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| nails, abandoned barn, Dublin, Ohio click to embiggen |
Recorded by the talented R.A.D. Stainforth. Check out his excellent blog, Black Dogs.
your ability to create vivid images with your words, images that do not soon fade is extrodinary.
ReplyDeleteBRAVO.
Thank you, David! x
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful sequence of images! ( and wouldn't it be interesting to see it happen in slow motion!)
ReplyDeleteWonderful words to the mighty nail! I remember going to the hardware store with my father and the salesman would weigh and bag our needed nails. The photo is at a great angle...love the paint color of the wood.
ReplyDeleteYou are on a roll, Tess.
ReplyDeleteA second poem this week.
Love the lines:
/hammered down with the
gusto and sweat of a nation's
brawn/ Too tiny, but odd,
things I noticed; no date
under your name, and no
lovely Tess reading the poem
to her poetics posse.
What's up with that?
Thanks, Glenn, it's because I wrote this poem a few years ago...gotta look up the date. I'm glad you missed my audio reading.
ReplyDeleteWhat a "Tessian" concept. No nails! I love this one...you really nailed it! Sorry :)
ReplyDeleteum
ReplyDeleteHave been plucking nails out of the ground for weeks last remnants of our "old" roof. i like "penny sized brads hammered down with the gusto and sweat of a nation's brawn" too. Reminds me of the jelly jars in my grandfather's workshop--each containing a different type of nail, screw, tack, etc.
ReplyDeleteApplause, applause! I just love the poem and the photos. I think I have read this one here before... but a second read is always wonderful. :)
ReplyDeleteTess, ya hit the nail on the head! What is more...you inspired some real deep thoughts here, believe it or not. (hint: Believe it!)
ReplyDeleteThe word prolific fits you also--hits the nail on the head--grin!
Best to you...vinter iss icumen inn
I love this one Tess. Both amusing and thought provoking and still has that edge of Kincaid madness to it. Now where's my giant vacuum...?
ReplyDeleteExtraordinary, once again.
ReplyDeleteI love this one, Willow. I just wonder how many 'odes' have been written in honour of the humble NAIL.
ReplyDeleteSorry. I promise to call you TESS in future.
ReplyDeleteI like this muchly yet lament the lack of a hammer!..Nails are meant to be driven!..Cheers mate!
ReplyDeleteI, too, love the way you paint with words, Tess.
ReplyDeleteFabulous words - what a vision.
ReplyDeleteLiked the words and the imagery. Had me thinking of all the nails I’ve pounded on, or had some part in them being pounded in my past.
ReplyDeleteTess, weirdly syncronitous. See mine today "Demolition Man"
ReplyDeleteLike this piece. Direct, full of fun and visual.
Cro, I was Willow for three years! I still answer to both.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous and original take. Love it, Tess.
ReplyDeleteA sideways look at the humble nail. Your particular gift.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention all the missing cars, refrigerators, and stoves! Yikes!
ReplyDelete...and heaven forbid...PCs, laptops and iPhones!
ReplyDeleteOh, I love this, Tess! Wonderful. Bad hair days indeed. We'd be a windswept, tangled mess!
ReplyDeletelove this one...it's a bit Heaneyish if you know what I mean...perhaps the Irish sneaking out through the words!
ReplyDeleteLoved the statement the image makes, and the verse was splendidly envisioned and conceived... nice stuff Tess, as can generally be expected... :)
ReplyDeleteLove "bad hair days". I am always amazed at your creative mind...connecting bad hair with building rubble.
ReplyDeleteThis is great - makes me appreciate dowel pins and finger joints and dovetails.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tess for the Wallander recommendation....I am looking forward to watching the series....xv
ReplyDeleteGood images. Better sentiments. Best all together. You certainly aren't rusty or obsolete.
ReplyDeleteKen, some days I feel a little rusty.
ReplyDeleteThis is wonderful, Tess! One for the books!
ReplyDeleteI think you've got this "abandoned america" bit nailed down solidly.
ReplyDeleteI wondered where all my nails went to that I used to hang pictures on the wall. :) Great poem, my dear Tess! Lord Thomas of Wellington!
ReplyDeleteThe nails make me think of a nest.
ReplyDeleteWell you reeled me in with the photograph and capped it with the poem. Beautifully written Tess.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful shot of the nails spilling out from under the painted boards of the old farm building. -- barbara
ReplyDeleteI love that metaphor of bad hair days.
ReplyDeleteDisheveled bun - disastrous. I've been there! Fun piece.
ReplyDeletealiens are scrappers?
ReplyDeleteWho knew? Watch out!
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