“What Breaks” by Lynnell Edwards

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(a lesson for children)

what_breaks_cover_smListen: you know I have told
you why we must not touch,
why we must not run
ragged through the gallery
in our socks, sliding across
the smooth floor, why we
must not stomp and flail
in anger or frustration so near
the glass.

Glass breaks.

Now look: here is the cup I took
from the annealer this morning. You watched
me blow its round bowl, shape
its thin stem, turn and turn and press
the base. But, see here?

It has a flaw. Take the safety glasses
and stand back.

These pieces are worthless now, can only
wound. Get the broom and do not
cry anymore. I will not show
you again how the created world
can slip from its orbit, godless
forever and shattered.

-Lynnell Edwards,
Kings of the Rock and Roll
Hot Shop (or, What Breaks)
(Accents Publishing)

photo by John Nation

Lynnell Edwards is the author of three collections of poetry, most recently Kings of the Rock and Roll Hot Shop (or, What Breaks) (Accents Publishing). Her short fiction and book reviews have also appeared widely in such literary journals as Pleiades, American Book Review, New Madrid, and The Connecticut Review. She is Associate Professor of English at Spalding University, and prior to that, a faculty member at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon. Lynnell is a graduate of Centre College, the center of the glass-blowing universe in Kentucky.

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