Poetry and Pottery May 13, 2020

a clay lump is quiet till it spins

press your fingers there and listen

someone inside is speaking

clean its airway a blockage baffles

the words dig deeper scoop and scrape

till you see the mouth free the arms

keep circling the diaphragm

cut the legs free

remember perfection is hand made

loved and wounded molded and scolded

like a child like your first born

release it into the world

into a reality that will harden it

or if you’ve done well watch it leap

straight out of your hands and into the fire