Springing To Action

Sprr-r-r-ring is such an active word.

You can hear it gathering-up its force.

Ready to burst out a kind of ping.

Releasing its energy on a course.

It’s the name we give to the season when

all living things gear-up to abound.

We use it to label a water source

that’s pushing its way through the spongy ground.

It’s also the name we give a device

that bends and moves but will not crack.

It’s often metallic and flexible.

If it’s pushed or pulled it does the same back.

A spring isn’t always a coiled-up wire.

It could be a curve or a V-shaped bend.

Like a bow that shoots arrows through the air.

Or a pair of tweezers with open ends.

A spring can be made from a plastic mould.

A blister, a mound or a curvy dome.

They’re hidden in keyboards for typing things.

And once were used on an old mobile phone.

A pen you can click. A used paperclip.

A clock that goes tick. A peg that can grip.

A doorknob that twists. A bike-bell that rings.

It’s likely they’ve all got some kind of sprr-r-r-ring!

Celia Berrell

• Submitted in response to Poetry Prompt #34

Celia said: Many Australians seem to have an easy-going approach to life.  Is this reflected in the way we say words like “spring”?  Other cultures and languages speak in a more animated way than us.  Can you “roll your r’s” like the Italian and Spanish people do?  Or gargle your “r’s” like the French?  How do you make the word “spring” really spring?