30/30 Challenge Poem 30 – Friendship Bracelet

Friendship Bracelet / by Laura M Kaminski

(for, and after, the January 2014 Tupelo Press 30/30 team, with thanks; it has been an honor, and each of you is a treasure)

I wear a braided strip
of dental floss around
my wrist — not as
elegant as hammered
silver, strands of knotted
silk or cords of leather,
but it doesn’t matter,
it is what I had to make

a bracelet to remember
this adventure that we’ve
shared. Sit with me, close
your eyes so you can see
these coins and gems,
these seeds of memories.

Here, hold this one
to your ear and listen
to the honey melody
that broken crockery
sings joyfully when
tickled by the broom.

And this one, hold
beneath your nose,
inhale; each touch
upon its surface gives
a breath of figs.

And this magic coin
lets you find direction:
spin and it will show
both sides of any question,
this face a button, this
an ancient Roman
token, a compass that
always guides you in.

But then, use caution
with the metallic pearl
that’s next, the shiny
round one there cast from
aluminum — it will suspend
you in the air, in flight,
en route to somewhere
dangerous and curious.

And this, a golden
tiger-eye that settles
down into your
point of view, glows
and bestows its gift
of patient confidence.

Next to the orb
of patience is a tiny
bell of time, a chime
of Kali (to be rung
only at the grocery
when hurried).

And this black vinyl
disk? You’ll need
a tiny needle with which
to scratch it, but it plays
all the rocking sound-
tracks to your memories.

And this last one here,
another coin, a nickel,
but it lets you do a trick –
when the porch lamp’s lit
and moths begin to gather
and you wonder what
could bring them all
together so, then squeeze
the nickel, squint up into
the glass bulb cage –

there’s a tiny bird perched
singing on the glowing
filament — squint harder
at the color of its feathers:

look closely, you can
see that it’s a poem.