This is not a carved box

but the heart of a tree
a remnant of me
an accumulation of scents
the essence of adolescence
and early adulthood
a repository for bad and good
different lives and different times
an amalgam of stories and rhymes

Kim M. Russell, 12th January 2021

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: Object Poems

Mish is back to host this Tuesday’s Poetics with ‘object poems’, in which an inanimate item is the subject of the poem. She says that the object is often brought to life using vivid, detailed descriptions of physical appearance and function, and has given us an amazing example by May Swenson, ‘A Navajo Blanket’.

Mish would like us to focus on the abstract and give begin our poems with (or give them the title) ‘THIS IS NOT A…’ We should choose an object from inside the home or outdoors, look past its obvious characteristics and uses, and spare the details. Instead, we should write about the connection it has to us or what it represents: what it means, the memories it holds; the emotions it evokes, etc.

52 thoughts on “This is not a carved box”

  5. This is a treasure-trove of a poem wrapped up in your trinket box, Kim. I love the phrase:
    ‘essence of adolescence’ – sometimes smells are the most evocative senses of all when it comes to memory.

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    1. Thank you, Marilyn. The box was a Christmas present from my German foster mother. It first contained jewellery, then incense and oils (it still has a faint patchouli scent), and finally odds and ends in my study. It’s over 46 years old!

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  19. Thank you for reminding me about the box thing. I had a similar one that I remember thinking had a horrible smell. It’s maybe the secretive aspect of adolescence that makes us want to keep everything in little boxes.

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