Thursday, February 5, 2026

Pendulum by Christine Valters Paintner


A silver coin sails across

the black sky making everyone

who sees it rich.


I know too what it is to feel

my poverty when the bowl

of night rolls down over me

with its ceramic thunk.


Some days I am swollen with

possibility, a ripe plum,

fingers sticky with sweetness,

while others I am hollowed out,

a bone scraped clean,

gleaming under the

weight of midday sun.


Many evenings my dreams

extend only as far as the garden gate,

desperate to unlatch the

red and rusted hook,


while others I throw away

the compass and cast myself

into sleep’s blue boat and

see where I wash ashore. 


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