Entrance of the Elder

BLACK-ROBED, RED LINING

We meet this morning, early,

for coffee on the Shield Maker's

80th birthday. Our extravagance

recreating the imperial field

while astonished baristas

look over steaming machines.

Shields of broken glass

reflect a kaleidoscope

of time, burnished volcanic

eruptions. A documented world

stretches over tissue paper.

Hearth-protecting shields

give way to tiny lapel pins

the shield maker calls trinkets

in his one act of deception,

the sculptor's lone foray

into battle language.

Jim Bodeen

16 May 2019