Tennies Jewelry

by Austin Segrest

Nothing’s changed. The same
wood paneling, spare selection,
like a bare branch tossed
in a salt mine.

Each piece mined, cut, and set,
each piece pronged and draped
like Stalin under glass,
given an expanse of silk,

given the chance to speak
under incredible pressure:
red for ruby, green for emerald,
black for diamond, white for gold.

The clock is still on Nixon—hell,
McCarthy time. Look how time
is entrusted to us. Crystal,
crumbs, grains, apples,

flecks of the mantle. Love
reaches for the unplucked
pluot it cannot afford.
Behind the case, beauty,

starting with your drink,
ending with your death
by the space age salad bar,
jewel light swimming up her face,

will take your order. Look
in the crypts time has encrusted.
This order, may it give you
your beauty, your borders back.

Austin is an Assistant Professor of English at Lawrence University. His second collection, Groom, is coming out April 2025 with Unbound Edition Press.