(teal necklace, image by birgl, on Pixabay)
Conversation between the Jewelry and the Thief
Why are you removing me?
You need another adventure and I need the nickels.
Why are you selling me into an unknown world?
Because you are shining, beautiful, and different from me.
Do you have no pangs of guilt?
No, it is easy to let go of beauty. Dark is much easier that way.
Why do you love the dark so much?
It is soft like a woolen coat, and I can put my arms through the holes and forget.
What do you need to forget?
How beautiful you are.
Does beauty frighten you?
Only when it isn’t mine.
What makes you think you aren’t beautiful?
Someone somewhere told me that.
*
Accolades
If I were not in love
with the insignificant
pieces of tin, noisy
pieces of glory, titles
like jangling coins.
If I did not hope
the racket would attract God,
if I did not hammer acclaim
with a wooden spoon
perhaps I would listen.
Listen to praise strike glory
from thunder clouds,
listen to dry grass tinkle alleluias,
listen to trees shiver silver
carols that sugar the earth.
Perhaps I would hear the glisten,
hear leaf quiet
and greenly pings
in the celebration of things:
the world loving its bits of self.
_________________________
Elizabeth Kirkpatrick-Vrenios resides in Mendocino, California. Retired from a
long singing and teaching career, she is
fond of lyric poems and has written most
of her life. Her award-winning chapbook, Special Delivery, was published in the
spring of 2016. Nominated for two Pushcart awards, Elizabeth has poems published
in various anthologies including Stories
of Music, The Hudson Review, Poeming
Pigeon, Passager, NILVX, Unsplendid, and The American Journal of Poetry. She has
twice written for the Tupelo Press 30/30 challenge. Her second volume of poetry,
Empty the Ocean with a Thimble, was released in April by Word Tech Communications.