Paperclip

(for Valerie Stanfield)

Two elbows
of a tiny
slide-trombone,
a running track
for fleas,
if fleas indeed
can run,
a corner on a

corner twice,

a set of hooks
in intimate embrace,
this clothes peg
for a doll,
this bugle's curve,
this one but one
of a million
million clones
is here declared
by me unique,
giving me thus
excuse to speak.

Early piece, first published in 'One Small Stride.'