Kaleidoscope

I got a new kaleidoscope,
A twisty, turny fun-oscope,
A jewels and gems inside-oscope,
A gazing's never done-oscope,
A flashy fascination-scope,
A countless combination-scope. 

They glued it to my eye-oscope,
A not-so-funny prank-oscope,
And though I pull and pry-oscope,
No matter how I yank-oscope,
I don't have any luck-oscope.
It stays forever stuck-oscope. 

A warning for the punk-oscope
Who pasted my kaleidoscope.
That rotten little skunk-oscope
Had better run and hide-oscope.

-B.C. Byron

My daughter loves her kaleidoscope. She makes sure everyone in the house has a turn to look through it every time she pulls it out. It’s a treasured object at our house. I love to see my kids experience simple joys like this. I have to admit, I still find this trick of mirrors and light to be mesmerizing. No matter how many times you turn it, a kaleidoscope always has a new view to offer. I have prisms and other toys in my science kit that do tricks with light, but none quite as cool as a kaleidoscope.

Many of my poems are inspired by the things that fascinate my daughters, so I wrote into my poem idea list the word “kaleidoscope” the day she received hers. I tried many times to write this poem and just couldn’t find a good angle to start it. I never like to write poems that just describe things, so what strange ways could I write about a kaleidoscope? If I keep a poem idea long enough, inspiration always comes along to help me finish it. Watching our pet bunny get his head stuck in a toilet paper tube somehow combined with kaleidoscope in my brain one day and produced this poem. Funny how brains work sometimes to connect things that don’t really go together like bunnies, toilet paper tubes, glue and kaleidoscopes, but I’ve learned to embrace those connections when they strike. It’s like an idea soup. If you boil it long enough and add enough seasoning, pretty much anything can combine to make a good soup.