Duck Tape Chronicles (or Duct Tape if You Prefer)

[PandoraGlitters]

You asked for it, now you have it. Challenge: write about one of the more versatile substances known to humans--Duct Tape (one brand of which is Duck Tape). Is there anything it can't do? Aside from, as Tzara said, holding together ducts? How many ways can Duct Tape be worked into poems I wonder! Let's find out.

 

[PandoraGlitters]

Pageantry

higher and tighter
she wants it
across the under curve
of her breasts until they are plump
buns popping from her bodice

later peeling off
with a rip!

 

[Homburg]

Silver at her wrists
Silver at her elbows
Silver at her ankles
and cross'd her lovely mouth

Her eyes wide with fear
as I run sharp steel over oiled stone

It will all be over soon, lovely.

 

[Tzara]

Bruce Wayne, AKA The Batman, Deals with a Problem Girlfriend
with Some Cool and Adaptable Stuff from His Famed Utility Belt

I caught Melissa wandering.
Her heart I could not hold.

But duct tape can fix anything
If you use the whole roll.

Now wrapped in gray, her heart will stay
Wrapped tight unto my bed

And if again she tries to stray?
Another roll, Alfred!​

 

[Eluard]

The King and Queen of Duct

The king of duct settled down with his queen
On the banks of the river the villagers called spleen.

"This insistent rain betokens a leak"
"I take it," he frowned, "it's of our savior you speak."

The plasticity of perception played its inevitable part
To sever the brain from its concupiscent heart

But nothing could alter the stain on the wall
"It only encourages it," he said, "if you regard it with awe."

"I am mindful of the folly of not being told
Of the ancient method of turning blood into gold."

"I can always make more," he said "if that's what you need."
"Yet I can't help but notice that you try not to bleed."

So they taped up God and fashioned a drought
From the water and wine of doing without

But nothing endures, not the inevitable kiss
Of settling for something merely the colour of bliss.



-------------------

 

[Yoron]

duct tape at her wrists and tear ducts in her eyes
over flowing emotions
release

 

[champagne1982]

A Poor Man's Dipilatory

Yes, it may bleed when I rip this from your shoulders.
It's time to tan the hide beneath the coat
you wear year-round.
I love you.
This will hurt me, more than it hurts you.
Shhh.

 

[Liar]

You were afraid of splinters,
but masked it in a craftman's cautions.

Don't work against the fibres boy,
or they will work against you.

A toothpick match lodged in the corner
of your mouth, old school, and a roll
of sturdy silver tape tied with a hemp string
to your belt, just in case.

Hold steady now..., you murnured,
and snapped a clamp in place.

A fresh planed board,
three nails, a little glue,
it didn't even come down
to duct tape this time,
and the billy cart
was as good as new.

We make a hell of a team, kid.

you said, and a chewed up match
fell from your grin.

That's the way I'll
remember your face.
Sawdust in your whitening hair,
a sparkle in your graying eyes.

I'm not afraid of splinters,
but I keep to this day
a silver roll tied to my belt,

just in case.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Duct Tape and Naugahyde (not a law firm)

Ah here is that chair, the one with the tear
you lovingly repair with such infinite care.
I am very aware that it really takes flair
to hide your despair from people who dare
to sit in your chair, like Claire the au pair.
It was a little unfair to simply sit there,
reading Vanity Fair with such laissez faire.
Had she taken a dare that her leisure wear
would cause you to stare, not notice your chair
had another new tear?

 

[unpredictablebijou]

Crisis of Faith

I learned a metaphor, early on:
that duct tape was like the Force
with a light side and a dark side
that it held all things together
yet clarified the line
between good and evil

what am I to make now
of duct tape in every color?
Who is the god of lavender
or yellow? Which is the dark
and which the light side?
My confidence in duality
drowns in the new syncretism.

Then one day I saw it:
clear duct tape.
There is no longer light and dark
no color and no duality
Hear O Israel: God is One

I have lost my moral center and
they will find me
bumping my head on the floor
of the Home Depot
and chanting, bewildered:
Allah, Azrael, Israel, Ishtar
Alleluia Alakazam.

 

[PandoraGlitters]

What amazing and wonderful posts I've come home to! Yay! Hats off to Tristesse and Tzara for the funny titles, also. I think this already provides a fine showcase for the many many uses of duct tape (depilatory to spiritual, who'd have thought?) I wonder if there are more? Also, Eluard, I love the final line of your poem. Powerful stuff.

To see such diversity in this thread really made my day. You guys are awesome.
Anyone else feeling sticky?

 

[FifthFlower]

No wrapping paper, no Scotch tape--
This newsprint though will do.
My gift will safely hide inside
Now duct tape sealed for you.

 

[Eluard]

To see such diversity in this thread really made my day. You guys are awesome.
Anyone else feeling sticky?

Agreed! It takes a challenge to bring out the creativity that is locked up here.

BJ — really liked that!

PG — the original duct tape poem may be my favourite thing of yours yet.

 

[Eluard]

Tristesse — very amusing poem! (but 'naugahyde' is spelled with a y, not an i. )

And liar — nice poem, man. Simple and moving.

 

[wildsweetone]

there is no blemish
around the edges,
no tight crinkling of skin,
nor lifted face
contorting an image
that screams through the farce
of torture nailed
to fingers, or beyond
the stretched lips
of a man of the dark
held imprisoned on a chair
that will sweat his pleading eyes,
a chair held together
with duct tape.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Tristesse — very amusing poem! (but 'naugahyde' is spelled with a y, not an i. )

And liar — nice poem, man. Simple and moving.

Fixed, thank you (it was before my time)

 

[wildsweetone]

it holds the page together,
makes my pen a one-piece
and yet when i write
the day becomes scattered
between lines, scrawled
to the edges, unstuck
and dangerously close
to the graffiti decorating
the wall under the bridge
where empty needles lay.
if it weren't for the tape
torn white remnants would blow
down the street, sweep
up to the city, mache
the tallest building
with pieces of poetry.
if it weren't for the tape
my words would be
singularly spoilt.

 

[PandoraGlitters]

Wildsweetone, I think I have read this last poem about 10 times now. I keep coming back to it. I like it.

 

[unpredictablebijou]

bump.

looking for other old threads, I ran across this one. Stellar thread. It deserves a second run.