KATE YOUNG

Retinoscope

Are you not curious about my purpose?

In layman’s terms I measure the refractive

error of the eye; I also look into the soul.

Don’t be afraid, I’m a tool to aid vision.

Go on – hold me, feel the cool curve

of metal lick at your skin. I bring clarity.

Take this Arts & Crafts pewter vase –

shine my light into the vessel’s vein

run your fingers over hammered Tudric,

each dink and dent planished with intent

as if its maker could breathe life

into the inanimate. Inhale, catch the scent

of roses, freesias or bluebells in spring.

Can you see the wake spilling the room

with platitudes and sympathetic smiles

or hear the weep of water nurture a flower?

Look around. They all mean something,

these objects invisibly fingerprinted,

layered in wood, stone, rayon or glass.

In your hand you hold a vase.

It is more than a vase.

Upstairs, a Jazz club in Montreal

Downstairs

the club has a New Orleans vibe,

soft lighting

tables touching cheek to cheek

and musicians sound-checking

tap-tap-tapping the microphone head.

A firefly waitress

flits between spaces igniting candles with smiles,

the taste of jazz absorbed in walls.

A laminated menu

floats down to red gingham

sticky with last night’s oil and salt.

The buzz is tangible

like the thrill of stumbling across nectar

in an unexpected place

an augmented 6^th with illusive wings

brushing my skin,

a momentary passing.

The evening begins,

an opening riff defying convention

nimble fingers stretched over strings

drum and bass in answer and question,

chords I do not understand

but can appreciate their radiance.

Beside us, father and son sit silent,

stare at solidifying chips

and glasses of chilled water.

The boy fidgets, knees jiggle

waiting for the open mic to unfurl,

the father’s camera sweating his palm.

Only fifteen, he takes the stage,

piano fingers spidering keys

lost in a world of improvisation.

Traces of Ellington shadow-shift,

the applause deafening, drifting

upstairs.

Kate Young’s poetry has appeared in journals and online. It was also included in Places of Poetry and Write Out Loud. Her pamphlets A Spark in the Darkness and Beyond the SchoolGate have been published with Hedgehog Press. Find her on X @Kateyoung12poet or her website kateyoungpoet.co.uk

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