How to Unscrew the Cap on an Old Paint Tube

Remembered Magic Trick

I used to know a magic trick:
How to open things that cannot be opened
In particular dried watercolor paint tubes
Screw caps welded in place decades ago
The interior contents
Long turned to jolly stones of brilliant color

The trick still works: you light a match
And slowly rotate the cap end
Like a chicken on a spit and in no time
The heat loosens the cement that had
Frozen the cap into a permanently sealed condition
The cap spins free and the pigments see the light of day

I dip a saturated brush into the opened vault and
A flood of Rip Van Winkle color awakens
Onto a new white sheet
Old magic tricks can still amaze me
Remember the vanishing birds?
Let's see if the salt trick still works



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