nichepoetryandprose

Today, I cleaned my collection of glass animals.  Cleaning them takes a long time since I don’t clean them often.  I wash each piece in soapy water and air dry it on a towel.  As I work, I enjoy their sparkle and I think about how I got each piece.  Since most of them are second-hand, I think about the unknown people who owned them before me.

Most of the animals in my collection belong in one of three categories:  covered dishes, candle holders and dresser jars.  A couple of the pieces belonged to my Mom.  A couple of them are pieces she gave me as gifts.  The rest, I found over the years at antique stores or auctions.

The covered dishes are mostly hens or chickens…

My favorite hen dish is a funny round chicken in clear glass…

I also have a rabbit in this collection…

and a duck…

I have a few glass birds of various colors.  Each bird has a berry in its beak, and a hollow in its back to hold a candle…

I’ll show you some of my dresser jars in the next post.

Do you have a hen dish among your dishes?

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Parting the Collection

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1.

to collect: to gather together

these prisms

of glass and light

took a lifetime

what will become of them

when what becomes of me?

~

2.

collect: a short prayer

from a mouth like dust

~

I bid for each

between Limoges and Occupied Japan

with a steady hand

and a palpitating heart

~

3.

sapphire

feathers pressed into glass

bird in the house

at the window

~

cut crystal

edge of flight

from the menagerie

~

ruby swan

amethyst bee

topaz duck

~

glazed eyes

~

4.

lenses rise in your throat

siliceous gasses

burst from your beak

as a berry

~

past and future

transparent

~

shards of glass

shared among

my daughters

do not understand

the meaning

of collection

~

do not know

a Sybil

rises in your beak

~

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Published as ‘Parting the Collection’, The Antigonish Review 95, Autumn 1993

Revised

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Copyright  Jane Tims  2013