Poetry has been
delicate crystal
preciously placed
quaint curio, glass and brass
the far right corner
pedestal and candle
high above the mantle
fine for show and
after dinner chit-chat
champagne and caviar but
so awkwardly
out of reach
impossibly difficult to
take down
grit and fingernail
where
a tattered page
corners cut
to mark
great passages.


(Previously published in The Alley, May 2001)

Laurence Overmire

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/glass-houses-3/