Joyce Peseroff
Diamonds are forever so I gave you quartz
which is #7 on the hardness scale
and it's hard enough to get to know
anybody these days
if only to scratch the surface
and quartz will scratch
six other mineral surfaces:
it will scratch glass
it will scratch gold
it will even
scratch your eyes out one morning—
you can't be too careful.
Diamonds are industrial
so I bought a ring of topaz
which is #8 on the hardness scale.
I wear it on my right hand, the way it was
supposed to be, right?
No tears and fewer regrets
for reasons smooth and clear as glass.
Topaz will scratch glass,
it will scratch your quartz,
and all your radio crystals.
You'll have to be silent the rest of your days
not to mention your nights. Not to mention
the night you ran away very drunk very
very drunk and you tried to cross the border
but couldn't make it across the lake.
Stirring up geysers with the oars
you drove the red canoe in circles,
tried to pole it but your left hand
didn't know what the right hand was doing.
You fell asleep
and let everyone know it when you woke up.
In a gin-soaked morning (hair of the dog)
you went hunting for geese,
shot three lake trout
in violation of the game laws,
told me to clean them and that
my eyes were bright as sapphires
which is #9 on the hardness scale.
A sapphire will cut a pearl
it will cut stainess steel
it will cut vinyl and mylar
and will probably cut a record this fall
to be released on an obscure label
known only to aficionados.
I will buy a copy.
I may buy you a copy
depending on how your tastes have changed.
I will buy copies for my friends
we'll get a new needle,
a diamond needle,
which is #10 on the hardness scale
and will cut anything.
It will cut wood and mortar,
plaster and iron,
it will cut the sapphires in my eyes
and I will bleed
blind as 4 A.M. in the subways
when even degenerates
are dreaming,
blind as the time you shot up the room
with a new hunting rifle
blind drunk
as you were.
You were #11 on the hardness scale
later that night
apologetic as you worked your way up
slowly from the knees
and you worked your way down
from the open-throated blouse.
Diamonds are forever so I give you softer things.
