The Weight of Glass
Glacial cylinder with its thumb-thick base,
Its circumference weighted to balance a hand’s span,
mazarine reflections of the fjord’s ice.
The fire-pit spits out sparks of moonlight.
My tongue courts the contents of the glass;
A dalliance of lakkalikööri, a sting, a glow.
glabrous swirling coats its inner skin;
reminders of cold nights encased in your arms.
This poem was written on an Open University weekend. We were asked to bring an object with deep meaning for us, we worked in pairs describing our object to each other. Then we had to create a poem about the other person's precious object. This is about Mark Bones's Littala glass he brought back from a time in Finland. The glass itself was too fragile to bring so I had to imagine its shape from Mark's description. The moment described in the poem is conjured by imagining perfect circumstances in which to enjoy a drink from the glass. The poem won the Hysteria 4 poetry competition which supports The Hysterectomy Association which provides impartial, timely and appropriate information to women facing that choice or diagnosis.
Lakkalikööri is Finnish cloudberry liqueur.
A Mazarine Blue is an extinct (1904) British butterfly.
There is only one Fjord in Finland, they’re more commonly found in Norway.
Littala glass – Finnish company.