Dunnet Head Lighthouse, 1967 mirror-bed of mercury, toxic axis of The Light -yet I was more frightened, even then, of the distorting grimace of the multiple lenses, refracting the stab of the tiny glow beyond huge, to beam out in measured strobe a beacon to the mickle boats © Kathy Labrum McVittie 15 May 2023
Merrill of dVerse challenges us to a quadrille (44 words only) on the subject of mirrors
writingpresence 
“the distorting grimace of the
multiple lenses”
Such a great phrase that conjures up some sort of insect monster. A wonderful response to the prompt. Thank you!
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Oooh, lighthouse as insect monster, patrolling the stormy seas with its beacon glare. Spooky!
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Hahaha. You’re welcome! 😊
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“the distorting grimace of the
multiple lenses, refracting the
stab of the tiny glow beyond huge,”
❤️
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A brave light, indeed.
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Nice mention of the mirror used in a lighthouse! It’s certainly not what I first think of when someone mentions a mirror.
Great poem!
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Thank you Nicole; I’m thinking of other “liquid mirrors” now, watery and rainbow-y.
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✨️👏🏻✨️ Kathy ✨️👏🏻✨️
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I love your take on the mirror prompt, Kathy. Lighthouses are fascinating and you have conveyed that in your quadrille. We have a well-known lighthouse not far from us and I recognised the awe and fear of ‘the distorting grimace of the multiple lenses’.
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Thank you Kim. I have often been spooked by visual “distortions”; perhaps psychological ones too…
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Great verse
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Rhank you Karen. I was taken back to a damp camping holiday in Caithness…
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I enjoyed your “custom” quadrille! I know a bit about boats.
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Glad you enjoyed, and may all your sea voyages be safe and comfortable. I am a “land-lubber” but I do like coastal features.
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This is incredibly potent! I resonate with; “the distorting grimace of the multiple lenses.” 💜💜
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Thank you for sharing what words work for you. On reflection (duh!) those words are the most authentic in my quadrille – the ones that describe quite a gut-felt discomfort at the visual distortion. I used to get a similar sensation seeing a streetlight magnified through a textured window of a particular bathroom. Odd huh?
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As a sailor’s wife, I am in awe of lighthouses! I love that your take is so different from all others. Like everyone else said, I too loved ‘the distorting grimace of multiple lenses’.
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I love the view of the lighthouse and all the intricate technology that makes it shine so brightly… once it was done using acetylene gas, and the first invention that made it lit out automatically in darkness was an invention by a Swedish engineer named Gustav Dahlen
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Thank you for joining in and widening the lighthouse theme, Bjorn! I have just read about Dahlen on Wikipedia and am delighted to hear about both Sun Valves and AGA cookers, and efficiency… as in
[Caption to picture of] “The AGA lighthouse “Blockhusudden” close to Stockholm, initially set up in 1912. When the lighthouse was electrified in 1980 it was determined that the sun valve had been working continuously since 1912 without the need for an overhaul.”
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It was an important invention…
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energy-saving before our time…
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