Gizmo the Radiant

It came to me I know not from where.

There it sat on the table

November 1953, a toy made in Japan;

tin, with a coiled spring.

You wound wind it up and it buzzed

and blinked with little red, blue,

and green lights.

When wound up, it would spin and rattle

and then slowly and quietly die down.

It rusted in some cellar’s damp corner.

Years later I found it in a dusty bin.

I wound it up and it cried with happiness.

– Burt Baldwin, Ignacio