V is for …
Wide mouth perpetually agape
I lie here in the dark and wait
for drawer to open
your warm fingers, thumb
to take me up, align my four incisors
with the soft and toothsome zinc
then squeeze…
Oh ecstasy! The sweet surrender
of malleable metal to my mouth
More – I want more
fangs famished to have at the staples
of every paper in your drawer!
© 2010 by Violet Nesdoly
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I noticed that on a previous Poetry Friday, Heidi Mordhorst (my juicy little universe) told us she was collecting poems in the voices of objects. “V is for… ” is my little shout-out to her. Read her talking object poem “Little Bricks, Little Bricks, Let Me Come In” and Laura Purdie Salas’s “Vacation Time” HERE.
This poem is submitted to Poetry Friday which is hosted this week by Anastasia Suen at Booktalking.
Violet Nesdoly 
I’m sure no one has ever written a poem about a staple remover before. So clever, Violet! Love the “sweet surrender of malleable metal” . . .
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Aw thanks! It came out of a prompt at Miss Rumphius, where we were challenged to animate the inanimate.
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I think the staple remover in my desk drawer is more fond of blood than staples — it always goes for my fingers when I am fishing around for it.
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Ha! Maybe it is a real V..(ampire)!
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Wow. How great is that? I won’t ever look at my staple remover in the same way again! Ruth (thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com)
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Thanks Ruth — and I won’t look at yellow dresses the same again either 🙂
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This just goes to show that anything can be a topic for poetry! I loved every bit of this.
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Aw thanks, Betsy! Your comment “…anything can be a topic for poetry” is a fun challenge.
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This is so alive! I love the way your photo captures the letter of this staple remover and it’s voice in your poem is fantastic. It’s very neat to imagine that little guy just waiting for me and my fingers, like an eager little snapping dog! (Seeing your title, I wondered at first if the poem would be about VIOLET!)
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(Why of course, you would think V would be for violet!) Thanks so much for what you said…
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Violet, I’m so glad I found your blog through Poetry Friday (and thanks for visiting mine). I actually read the poem before looking at the picture, and found it so intriguing…then I scrolled back to the pic and had a big “Oh…HA!” moment. Loved it! Makes me want to go to the junk drawer and see what inspiration is lurking there…
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Thank you, Renee. I think these challenges are wonderful for meeting new writers/poets/friends… Now for more hours of the day. And yes, inspiration can lurk in the strangest places. I need to let it sneak up on me more often. 🙂
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Thanks for the mention, Violet–I’m glad you find animating the inanimate a fun challenge. I’m trying for one a day this month! My favorite line is “align my four incisors/with the soft and toothsome zinc”–and I believe I just learned something as well as enjoying the poem!
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Thank you Heidi. Wow, you’re doing one of those animating the inanimate poems for each day of the month? That’s a great idea! Will you put it out as a collection?
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