This rice bowl
Translucent as baby skin
Is painted inside and out with
Chrysanthemums.
A splendid little bowl,
It is cracked in three places
And broken in one.
I imagine somebody bumped it
Years ago while helping with the dishes.
So many things break
In conversations
At the kitchen sink.
At my grandmother's,
There were so many of us and so much being said….
It happened.
My grandmother used brown glue to set it right, and
The repair work holds after four decades.
My grandmother would have turned glued side
To the wall.
You never would have known.
You would have wondered
How she came by so many beautiful things.
This bowl is mine.
I keep the cracked side
Not quite to the wall.
I like to see it.
And remember how rich as a queen my grandmother was
And how I helped with the dishes
and knew
and it was all okay--
perfect, really.
One Single Impression
Sandy Carlson Social