Talisman
By Julie Flanders
The whole world is a jar
Where we gather like buttons
Waiting to be recognized
And sewn back into the fabric we came from
Your eyes sparkle sequins
There is no pain to the needle
I feel the thread
Moving through the open spaces of me
I want to be held
I want to be whole
How much of this is out of our control
All of it, none of it
What would make a more beautiful photograph
The jar of buttons in your kitchen
Or the sky
Your child sleeping
Or the half-eaten piece of pie near the sink
What do you think
Who cares about the sink
The sky is turning blue and pink
The sky will be the same in a hundred years
Or a thousand years
As familiar as today
And as clear
As the eyes that open on it
But the buttons
Will be strange and foreign
They will belong to no one
But us
They will be forgotten
The places we have
Fallen off
Will be gone
October Process 