One
pearl unstrung
in oyster dark lights no
patterned repetitions in a
moving curve of change holding all
befores and afters to a chord continuous –
though known to only one of each –
moving freely on a spinal thong but
chafing dissatisfied breaks the line,
falls a downcast dropping hail of pearls
plunging to tetherless oblivion in trodden
gravel and spinless stillness, free
of fulcrum, pilot, pivot
or place to
shine.