Day 546: A History of Glassblowing

What a fascinating process glassblowing, and an equally interesting poem this, on it. From a local poet too, I might add.

 

A History of Glassblowing - Matthew Sweeney

The records show that in Shanghai

at the end of the Yuan Dynasty,

the year 1364, a glassblower blew

a mermaid that came to life, and swam

away. And in Cologne, in 1531, a team

of glassblowers blew an orchestra,

instruments and all, and these played.

Then on Hokkaido, in 1846, a blind

monk blew his own Buddha to pray to,

and the next day he was able to see.

In Natchez, in 1901, a glassblower

blew a paddleboat with gamblers in it,

one of them lying dead. And in Oaxaca,

in 1929, a small version of the Sierra

Madre was blown, with golddiggers

on its lower slopes, and the whole

town filled with gold. In Letterkenny,

in 1965, a woman blew a flock

of glass sheep, wool and all, each

of them with a tinkly baa. In 1993,

in Séte, the harbour glassblower

blew a lighthouse with its own light,

and in 2004, in Timisoara, three

glassies blew a new solar system

that they let float up and away.