Jar as Self-Portrait

Allison Berry

A jar filled with reddening leaves sits
outside a door. An empty jar warbles
in a low wind as if its base were an ellipse
tuned to spin.
Peel the label from a jelly jar.
Soak in vinegar. Scrub glue residue.
Store in the cabinet till there is need
of juice or water.
A jar tips, spills its insides.
A jar shatters from liquid bubbling
in the center. A jar glides along water run down
its side, glides like an invisible hand desires
the jar move slightly to the right.
A jar fills
and empties. Think of church on Sunday,
a parking lot, think of a breast, a bladder,
a woman, a mouth, a tank, a bowl,
your thrumming, thrumming heart.