Mish from dVerse Poets Pub has sketched out a range of words (sketch, sketchy), to include in a poem of exactly 44 words for this week’s quadrille challenge. You can read – and accept – her delightful invitation here.

As well as referring to poems that include such words, Mish also unpacks memories of a 1960s toy she calls Etch-A-Sketch , released in USA and Canada in 1960s.

According to Wikipedia, it was invented in France by Andre Cassagnes, who demonstrated it at Nuremberg Toy Fair in 1959, It was known in Europe – including in translation by my English schoolfriends – as L’Écran Magique (The Magic Screen).

Cash for toys was short in my family, amd I never owned a model of my own, although I had a go on one at a friend’s house. She may have been called Susan, or perhaps I am remembering Hazel Collins, who shared with me her Fuzzy Felt, another divertissement of that era.

Time for a quadrille!

Stretched for cash

My friend had an Etch-a-Sketch
and sadly I did not.
I envied her the luxury
of what I hadn't got.

She let me twist the dials
to make a jerky line
'Twas not a thing of beauty;
yet she said I'd done just fine.

© Kathy Labrum McVittie 27 November 2023

I was relieved that Mish – adjudicator in theis challenge – quotes Etch-A-Sketch, hyphenated, in her innvitation to quadrille (verb). That way, I’ve managed the word limit!

Fair game, methinks.