Sunday, June 8, 2014

Magpie Tales: Time on a Reel

Visit Magpie Tales for poetry and prose using the picture prompt.




TIME ON A REEL

TEACh me how to use this infernal machine.
I know it's old fashioned and from my grandmother's time
But it has her voice and her songs and my childhood
imprinted on its aged plastic tape,
my young years with my grandma magnetized
and put on a reel. So that I might hear her once again
and my own plaintive voice singing along.

How precious is time, present and past.
We hold it in memory and look to it for our future,
It is the key to ourselves.

But this infernal machine has stumped my time, in this present.

© Gerry at Strummed Words




15 comments:

Jinksy said...

A delightful slice of history at the touch of a button...

Anonymous said...

Backwards compatibility is something that we really do need to pay attention to. Great story. Thankfully, there are people still out there who make it their business to keep old tech viable.

Magaly Guerrero said...

Love the visual of the first word. And the need/want to hold on to the past, or at least to learn to hear its lessons and joys again...

Berowne said...

Vive la nostalgie...

Kay said...

so wish i had our old tapes now...x

Helen said...

We had an Akai reel to reel deck way back in the late 60s .. great sound, amazing machine. Lucky for us we didn't lose any precious recordings. Nice write!

Dana Dampier said...

Wouldn't it be wonderful to hear songs and stories from the past? Especially from those we loved! Like a time capsule!

J Cosmo Newbery said...

Ah, but when it does work, it will work magic!

Anonymous said...

I love the dual image of the tape machine as a good thing, as it holds your Grandma's voice. But a bad thing because the voice is trapped because you can't make the machine work to access it. Nice.

Silent Otto said...

Like an echo from the earth itself , or its Great Bear magnetic guardian , draped around the poles

Arathi Harihar said...

Ah!..That's a nice poem..very nostalgic..:)

Belva Rae Staples said...

I would love to hear my grandmother's voice again and hear her play the piano. Lovely memories and you'll get the hang of that old machine.

Eddie said...

Loved the was you got TEACh in - clever.
Those old reel to reel machines were marvellous. Mt dad had a Revox and the quality was superb.
~ Eddie

Eddie Bluelights said...

Used wrong email address - this one has a blog link.
Had my first go at this lately.
~ Eddie

Tess Kincaid said...

I have some old tapes from my childhood...I need to find a player! Lovely write...

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