Wearing Art

Idly the hands twist the pliers

The metal ring slides open

The last link in the chain, a smooth sleek

Silver bracelet

Byzantine it hangs limply, polished charms

Gleaming

Gently it’s placed next to the piles of

Jewelry,

Metal wrought, sprung from mind to life,

Combinations of pop culture and a

Victorian era magazine,

The regalia of knights

In a multicolor rainbow

Next to gently carved stone from

Rivers far from there

Dangling on wire

Those same hands turn the sign with care

Open

Their owner sits, carefully brushing off the

Working table beside the register

Laying out the tools

Of the place that is their own

Until a customer comes in to buy a

masterpiece.

There in her kingdom,

creating with her own two hands,

she feels alive.