DISCARDS
Exquisite crystal starts as potash,
Lead, the whitest sand, and cullet:
(Broken glass from previous batches
That helps the raw ingredients blend.)
Ballooning slantwise on the iron,
Molded with a crooked handle,
Flocked with air bubbles, the glass
Without regret will be pulverized.
Engravers paint with unforgiving
Wheels, smooth and refine designs,
Their hands remembering all the angles.
One slip and the bowl is back in the cullet.
I like to look up at the chandelier
That glorifies the dome of the mall
And think of the hands that did not slip
And the fragments resurrected there.
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