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.