..
She is not without her charms,
spill-and-spangling both her arms
with jangled pieces of her past.
If you take the time to ask
her where she got one, she’ll stop
and tell you its story, just plop
right down and unclasp its center,
tell you the places life has bent her
and how a sliver of shaped silver
gave her hope and helped her pilfer
a possibility or two along the way.
And if you smile, or sigh, she’ll say
she understands. When the sun
slants just right, it all shines like one
in a million, a billion-starred wrist.
And even when she shakes a fist,
the sound is tinkling bells, reminding her
that happiness is still finding her.
..
Writing for Toads today, too. You?
Whimsygizmo's Blog 
I love this. But I can’t help but read it as if her “bracelets” are cuts across her arms.
“reminding her that happiness is still finding her.” and may it always find and bless you. Lovely, De
Delightful work with rhyme! This really sings, De.
I SO love this. Just trying, once more, to insert my comment here. (Maybe the issue is with my Kindle…?) We’ll see!
Success! 🙂 Thanks, PSC.
A nice tale, De. I was thinking the bracelet was tattooed but after reading the comments, it could be cuts. Or also ,litterally, a pretty bracelet. For sure it clasps.
I like the lines, “… ask her where she got one, she’ll stop and tell you its story, just plop (down) … and unclasp its center, tell you… “. That would be an invitation to ‘unload’.
..
Well, she meant it as an arm-smattering of those jingly jangly silver hippie bracelets, I think. But I just extra-meaning’d it, because my head usually bounces off in a completely different direction than the poet/author intended. I have an overly creative mind … which is probably one reason I get migraines.
I think any poem should be able to jangle itself around in meaning, in another’s head. 😉 Especially one as beautiful as yours, my poetical sister.
My bracelets are my favorite jewelry, I love hearing myself coming. 😉
But I love the way you describe it as happiness looking for you. Love.
Thanks, Kir. I can only wear a necklace for a couple of hours before it feels like a noose, but I feel naked without a bracelet. 😉
I love this young woman (she feels young to me) and her special bracelet. I like the movement in the poem and the message 🙂
There is such cheerfulness on those bracelets… wonderful
Such a lovely poem! It reminded me a lot about my best friend.
Oh, I love this! I read this as a tattoo, as an actual bracelet, as a metaphor of all the “charms” stored in ones spirit. Fabulous writing!! Thanks so much for writing and sharing in the garden!!
So effortlessly penned ❤ ❤
I love the places life has bent her, and the spirit in the closing lines.
Wonderful poem and subject. Thanks. K.
I didn’t see the tattoo or scars as much as I saw a charm bracelet. Each charm was a representation of a memory, good or bad. It’s almost like I could see there being charms marking a lost love, a bad job, a hard time, etc.
I love it! Perfect.
Love the jangy sounds through this lovely bracelet piece. I always think of bells – tinkling or tolling – are like a call of a special kind. Love that final call for happiness.
Delightfully light, and full of the shine of the surprise with which we see what life has done to us, good or bad or without a value judgement–just what it is and who we are–the metaphor is as shiny as the bracelets, looping in the very adroit but simple rhymes like a jangle of bracelets itself–esp. liked “just plop/
right down and unclasp its center,
tell you the places life has bent her..”
Charm bracelet as a record of one’s life – I suppose it’s obvious really, but I never quite grasped it until I read your poem.
that is one good attitude