Adornments

I grabbed Mary-Jane’s earrings in the movie theatre,

Unfastened them in the Hayley Mills light

The land of strange people’s chairs.

*

She stands by her lover’s bedroom lamp

Trying to be graceful

When the cheap backings drop.

*

Later, she betrays me, acting as if she’d

Never known me. Married rich

As if she’d never shoplifted.

*

On the subway, older, I saw

Her cradle her child’s baby

The toddler wears a knit hat and golden posts

*

That glint. Tiny hands move upwards, hypnotized,

Touching her naked ears

Which hear nothing but ancient, urgent, whispers.