Abandon, Reprised

Almost always it is widows
trying the windchimes.

From technique you can tell
who played tetherball

and which ones flattered
men in uniform, brushing

their shirt fronts free of crumbs.
A few pretend they are there

to buy. Methodical as hand models,
they lift the price tags tied

to bamboo chandeliers
before filling the store

with reports of puppet kendo.
Others start small, browsing

a finger across pipes
sawed from dollhouse organs.

And then there are those
who look both ways before

they swing floating smoke stacks
with whole belfries for echoes.

Sometimes, one says, it’s a relief
being unable to predict

the magnitude of the sound
you’re about to set ringing.

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Jane Zwart teaches at Calvin University, where she also co-directs the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, The Southern Review, Threepenny Review, TriQuarterly, and Ploughshares, as well as other journals and magazines.