For Heather Ferguson


at the bead shop
she’ll search for "findings"
this artisan of jewellery
finding the clasps
to match bead
stone and bone --
her raw materials,
at home
she works with deft hands
attaching these parts to the
pieces-in-progress
strings of beads
or precious stones
designing, experimenting, making fit
the style, size and coloring
of the persons
they’ll adorn

sometimes after all the
threading and arranging
seems completed, she rolls them all off
and starts over
and over
silent and unflustered
opening to new tries
to satisfy herself

as she works
the multi-colored beads, or solids
smooth stone, bone, coral-like pebbles
she retrieves and re-builds from the many
mini-plastic bags around her
seeming to know what she has where
among the families of baubles

at first, she threads them on wires
that will be replaced with
the finished findings and clasps
that suit each piece
to hold her art together
around necks and wrists
after last fittings

as I sit beside her, watching
while she works on mine
it occurs to me
if only we could locate
the hardware needed
to hold people together
re-string the beads that fall off or fail
to work in the original arrangement
they’ve landed in

re-align them side-by-side
until they do

drop or add a few components

to balance
making the whole unit
into a closer fit and match
of strong duration

09/13/2004

Author's Note: a first draft

Posted on 09/13/2004
Copyright © 2024 Maureen Glaude