Thursday, January 16, 2020

The lowly toothpick






It's January... a cold, windy, gray kind of day. What could be a better time to consider the work of the toothpick!  No kidding... I was looking through some of my poems, wondering what to post today, and I ran across this little ditty about toothpicks. So... I figured... why not???

The Toothpick

The toothpick is a tool
That's so simple
Any fool
Can poke one
'Tween two teeth
To get relief

Yet I give that pick
High praise
For its work on
Baking days
When it declares the cake's not done
In bas relief

© Karen Eastlund

The definition of a bas relief is a piece of artwork that is sculpted, carved or molded in such a way that it barely protrudes from the background flat surface.
A bas-relief inside a crypt in Egypt.

Toothpicks have done many jobs, but would you think of a toothpick as a map? Check out this excellent article by William Boyle, full of toothpick lore as well as memories of his grandfather's penchant for toothpicks:
https://www.oxfordamerican.org/item/1503-chewing-on-toothpicks

It's Poetry Friday! You can find more poems by following the links on Catherine's blog:
https://readingtothecore.wordpress.com/.
Thanks for hosting, Catherine.

Have a great week, everyone.  


13 comments:

  1. Ooh - clever use of the term bas relief. I do love a vocabulary surprise!

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  2. Finally, a poem about toothpicks! I can tell you have a lot of fun with this one, Karen... great job! xo

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  3. Wonderful to read about that 'bas relief', Karen & that article brings back so many memories of my older relatives grabbing a toothpick as we left the restaurants! It was a given, wasn't it?

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  4. With its bouncy rhythm, your toothpick poem is fun to read aloud. I love the clever ending!

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  5. I love how poetry makes us look at something closely. I won't take toothpicks for granted now!

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  6. How fun! And, we get to learn at the same time. This is my kinds of poem and post. Well done, Karen! Oh, yes....knowing when a cake is done is not an unimportant job!

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  7. Love your poetic toothpick tribute, Karen! Toothpicks are wonderful. I can't count how many craft projects of done with my kiddos that involved toothpicks.

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  8. Karen, your lowly toothpick post reminded me of my love of baking. I have moved on from a toothpick to a cake pick to test my treats. Thanks for the links to Boyle's memoir and good luck at the dentist. Your scuphum poem was fun to read.

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  9. I do love to bake but I have advanced from a toothpick to a cakepick to test my creations, Karen. What a great poem for your lowly toothpick and thanks for the link to the Boyle memoir piece. I enjoyed your scuphum poem (hope your dental visit made your teeth glisten with whiteness.)

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  10. Clever proof that the world is full of an infinite number of topics for poems!!

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  11. Who'd have thunk a poem would have been written about a toothpick, as Mary Lee implies above! Amazing. My Kindergarteners are currently poking toothpicks into mini marshmallows for an engineering challenge. Perhaps I should write a poem about the marshmallow's take on this venture!

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  12. "...it declares the cake's not done/in bas relief" made me laugh out loud! Thank you for what is certainly the first poem I've ever read about a toothpick!

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  13. Loved the poem and the article that you shared. There are so many uses for such a simple thing!

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