The Joins

Chana Bloch

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of mending precious pottery with gold.

What's between us

often seems flexible as the webbing

between forefinger（食指） and thumb.

Seems flexible, but it's not;

what's between us

is made of clay,

like any cup on the shelf.

It shatters easily. Repair

becomes the task.

We glue the wounded edges

with tentative fingers.

Scar tissue is visible history,

the cup more precious to us

because

we saved it.

In the art of kintsugi,

a potter repairing a broken cup

would sprinkle the resin（树脂，松香）

with powdered gold.

Sometimes the joins

are so exquisite（精致的）

they say the potter

may have broken the cup

just so he could mend it.