“Wood Be Harry (Caught by Houdini’s Lure)” – Mag 114
Wood Be Harry (Caught by Houdini’s Lure)
Caught by Houdini’s lure
before he even heard the name–
he climbed from crib, rolled from
stroller, finessed
his way from fingertips, magicking red
the faces of his parents once again, when, as
six-year old, he found the manacles
in their bedroom drawer and showed them
how he could release his pale clasped
wrists without even a nudge of
the coupled key.
But to teach his lungs to burst
their bounds
would take some work. And privacy. How
could he practice
in a public pool? A pond aligned with
a window? A river by any road?
No. He took his tank–aquarium
salvaged from dentist’s dumpster–
to a high far glen, where sounded only
the spark of bird, the knock of woodpecker, the rare
ullulation of wild turkey blustering through
the bush. Carting up
the water had been a bitch.
But worth it, he thought, lowering head
beneath the slosh, as a reverse bubbling slipped
between the press of lips, and freedom itself,
escaping the crimp
of the wide world, took refuge in
his second-counting soul,
and bloomed.
He could go on this way,
he thought, forever–until,
suddenly, captured wave caressing
his proud teen’s musclebound
limbs, the image of his parents’ manacles
came to mind, the fraught stillness of
their years-ago bedroom drawer, and, with a spluttered
cough half-trapped in his
tight throat, he realized, ruefully,
that much much more practice
would be necessary.
********************************************************
Here’s my offering for Tess Kincaid’s Magpie Tales, 114. My iPad painting is based on Tess’s prompt, an image by Alex Stoddard. This is also my 22nd poem – I’ll call them that, though some have been very prosey – for National Poetry Month!
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Tags: Harry's Hide-Out, Magpie Tales 114, manicddaily, teenager caught red handed, Would-be Houdini poem
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ManicDDaily 
April 22, 2012 at 11:22 am
great imagery and imagination. i like how this was salvaged from teh dentist’s dumpster, and i like his muscles
altered states
April 22, 2012 at 11:46 am
ugh…this made me want to throw up just a bit…thinking about children finding things and following ideas they never should …and begs me wonder where the parents are in all this…that it would get to this….shivers….
April 22, 2012 at 11:48 am
Really – I wasn’t thinking of him as a young kid at all. He’s only six when he finds the manacles, not six now – but a true teen.
Maybe I need to fix that as I really was going for the humor of the teen here. K.
April 22, 2012 at 11:50 am
Hi – so changed a bit – added “years-ago bedroom drawer” as I really am meaning full-grown kid, not someone hurt. So interesting where the mind goes–you have small ones, k.
April 22, 2012 at 11:55 am
Hi–added teen’s!
April 22, 2012 at 1:06 pm
A wonderful poem, Karin– I am always so taken by the sheer expertise of your craft– always carefully crafted imagery and perfect enjambment– as if it just takes a flick of the wrist to write something stellar. I get the light-heartedness of the poem…but, she said, how do you really feel about this boy? xxxxxj
April 22, 2012 at 1:47 pm
Ha. Thanks so much–one gets into such a swivet to just post something sometimes! To be done perhaps before really done! I should probably always wait a few hours. That is such a good question–I’ve focused a bit too much on the surface here! Perhaps the thing is to have the dentist’s assistant follow him up, and hmmm…. but thereby would hang a much more ambitious tale! K.
April 22, 2012 at 1:29 pm
Oh, we both thought of Houdini’s escapology trick here but, I went with sleeping beauty in reverse too…. LOL
Clever imagery and use of the prompt pic.
April 22, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Clever imagery, Karin.
April 22, 2012 at 7:18 pm
It amazes me anything lighthearted could come of that macabre image–but I found myself chuckling several times at this young master of the mystic arts–magicking his parents’ face red–ace line. Still, there’s also that sense of panic and compression that at least i would get at trying to pull off a stunt like that. Nicely played, K. be safe tomorrow–hear there’s some wet weather headed your way (if you’re still on the east coast.)
April 22, 2012 at 7:48 pm
Thanks so much, Joy. K.
April 23, 2012 at 4:37 am
Humour and deep afterthought… Wow! I don’t know what else to say! It doesn’t happen too often, but you have me speechless! *smile*
April 23, 2012 at 5:13 am
So many ways you could have approached this: logical and thoughtful I had not considered. A triumph! Well done indeed.
April 23, 2012 at 5:54 am
He took his own water, so he could feel the forest more exquisitely , yeeeeeaahhhh !. Feeling hurts.
April 23, 2012 at 6:46 am
Well crafted and thought-out poem, and yes it was funny.
April 23, 2012 at 9:33 am
Oh, the imagination in this is admirable! I love the Dentist’s fish tank, but I’m still laughing at the manacles in his parents’ drawer!
poetikat-km.blogspot.com
April 23, 2012 at 9:57 am
Thanks so much, Kat. K.
April 23, 2012 at 11:52 am
LOVE the ending. So wry and clever.
=)
April 23, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Thank you, Granny Sue.
April 23, 2012 at 12:08 pm
Oops!
April 23, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Another very fine poem K…I love your sense of humor…the thought of Houdini crossed my mind, too…but only for a second…
April 23, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Thanks, Tess. I am very interested to see everyone’s different directions. Also, of course, now that mine’s posted, I can think of all these untold jokes! Perhaps will go back sometime and slip them in.
April 23, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Love the story you imagined for this prompt! The manacles in the parents’ drawer made me groan a bit (maybe I should take a peek in my nightstand and see what I’ve forgotten about in there!)
April 23, 2012 at 8:00 pm
Ha! Maybe you should! K.
April 23, 2012 at 10:39 pm
Terribly fun!
April 24, 2012 at 9:08 pm
I, to this day hesitate to even enter my parents bedroom! Ha ha and I have always opted to believe that my parents laughter and noises were reactions to reading “All Things Great and Small” book series…and yes, it took them years to get through that series 🙂
April 24, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Ha ha! I am laughing very loudly at that one! Thanks much! K.
April 25, 2012 at 7:28 am
A slightly twisted tale of humor and intrigue!! Very clever, I enjoyed reading this one!
April 26, 2012 at 3:06 am
Can’t help wishing you’d written this in a block of prose – it would still have read like a prose-poem, but been much easier on the eye…I liked the story.
April 26, 2012 at 6:10 am
That is a very good point. I will certainly think about it, as I do a lot of prosey pieces. I agree when it is something long, it does read better as prose. Thanks. K.
April 26, 2012 at 11:45 pm
poor old Harry – never did get this particular trick quite right, did he? wonderful use of this prompt in my view … lovely tale … also like the play on words, very clever .