Junk Jewellery

Cherry

By Jane Hyphen

Thu, 10 Mar 2022
  • 791 reads
9 comments
 

 

Come upstairs with me,

I’ll show you my junk jewellery.

Overflowing from a box

which looks like leather.

Gold and shiny, sparkling,

like something you’d find

in a cave that had never suffered light.

 

I like to turn them over in my hands.

They look just like the real thing.

They are the Crown Jewels. 

Sapphires blink just like

the last of summer twilight.

Rubies like a secret kiss,

blood flowing to fired lips.

 

A locket, locked in time,

a heart-shaped smile, captive.

And something like a diamond,

refusing to absorb light,

obstinate in its hardness,

callous glints unending.

There’s an emerald as green

as a hundred days of rain.

 

A crucifix, the cross to hang

around the hazard of my neck 

and save it from itself.

A lovers coin still gripped,

holding on to scraps of copper love.

A white whisker from a cat

who never really loved me.

 

A mystic topaz, blue

like a flood of lies,

desires washed away.

Grandma's pinprick,

sharp as ever, thinking 

of the holes it made in

starched collars, long decayed.

 

Certificate U
Poem

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hi Jane,

you're not going to believe this, but your poem bought back childhood memories for me. I must have been about eight at the time, when me and my friends would bring our jewels to school in fancy sweet tins or buscuit tins and swap with each other searching for those treasures we never had. Reading your poem was so nostalgic and I often wonder what happened to them.

I did so enjoy reading this, thank you so much for sharing.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Hi Jenny, me too. I remember one of my friends and I would bring items to each other's homes and sit and swap them and admire each others cheap earrings and other bits and peices. I'm still in touch with her and I remember it being so much fun. Thanks for reading and your lovely comment.

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

I remember my husband's uncle ostentaeously offernig me to choose something from his mother's jewellery after the funeral. I had never liked or been attracted to jewels, preferring plain things made of slate or copper, or flowers I think. He was rather astonished when with relief I found a lovely realistic flower in the collection and insisted that that was what I really wanted. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Hi Rhiannon, that's really interesting. Personally I love jewels, don't own many but I do have some 'fake' jewellery and I rather like that too. Having said that, I agree that both copper and slate are very beautiful and have unique characteristics. Thanks for reading and commenting.

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

I love the little splashes of malevolence - brilliant!

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thank you Insert. Malevolence lives in my jewellery boxsmiley

 

Submitted by lenchenelf on

there is something of childhood magic, playing through a box of bits and bobs, letting imagination drift 

Nice one

Lena x

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thanks Lena for reading and your comment. I remember as a small child picking a garnet out of one of my mother's rings. There's something about shiny things which both children and adults find hard to resist.

 

Submitted by Frances Macaula... on

I enjoyed this piece Jane, thank you.  I too love all kinds of sparkly things.

Congratulations on the cherries, too!

 

Soundcloud:  https://soundcloud.com/search?q=FrancesMF