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The Jewelry and the Thief: two poems by Elizabeth Kirkpatrick-Vrenios

Updated: Nov 23, 2022


Teal-colored pendant necklace, heart shape encrusted with gems, lying on what seems to be snow. Image by "birgl" on Pixabay.
















(teal necklace, image by birgl, on Pixabay)




Conversation between the Jewelry and the Thief



Why are you removing me?

You need another adventure and I need the nickels.


Why are you selling me into an unknown world?

Because you are shining, beautiful, and different from me.


Do you have no pangs of guilt?

No, it is easy to let go of beauty. Dark is much easier that way.


Why do you love the dark so much?

It is soft like a woolen coat, and I can put my arms through the holes and forget.


What do you need to forget?

How beautiful you are.


Does beauty frighten you?

Only when it isn’t mine.


What makes you think you aren’t beautiful?

Someone somewhere told me that.




*




Accolades



If I were not in love

with the insignificant

pieces of tin, noisy

pieces of glory, titles

like jangling coins.


If I did not hope

the racket would attract God,

if I did not hammer acclaim

with a wooden spoon

perhaps I would listen.


Listen to praise strike glory

from thunder clouds,

listen to dry grass tinkle alleluias,

listen to trees shiver silver

carols that sugar the earth.


Perhaps I would hear the glisten,

hear leaf quiet

and greenly pings

in the celebration of things:

the world loving its bits of self.





_________________________




Elizabeth Kirkpatrick-Vrenios resides in Mendocino, California. Retired from a

long singing and teaching career, she is

fond of lyric poems and has written most

of her life. Her award-winning chapbook, Special Delivery, was published in the

spring of 2016. Nominated for two Pushcart awards, Elizabeth has poems published

in various anthologies including Stories

of Music, The Hudson Review, Poeming

Pigeon, Passager, NILVX, Unsplendid, and The American Journal of Poetry. She has

twice written for the Tupelo Press 30/30 challenge. Her second volume of poetry,

Empty the Ocean with a Thimble, was released in April by Word Tech Communications.

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