The Earring

 
 
 
O how I identify with you,

Non-bullion earing without a pair.

 

This burnished stud is

Something loose, broken—

 

It is manufactured for fashion,

Which, like love, has relative rules:

 

Do not put inside mouth

(Parts may cause choking)

Do not store at high temperatures

(Highly combustible, may cause burning)

 

I ask you, lonely earring: are we magnetized

In our own skin, stuck to bone, pointing north?

 

You are almost a part of everything:

Perpetual energy formed, wide-open, and only.
 
 
 

Allison Parker is a poet, playwright and English instructor living in Wilmington, NC. She graduated with an MFA in poetry in 2002 from UNCW. Her poetry has appeared in Poetry East, Cobalt, Fjords, Ash Canyon Review, Lilies and Cannonballs, The Oklahoma Review, Scissors and Spackle, A Sharp Piece of Awesome, ArtWord Quarterly, and The Lyricist. Her one act play Girls, Girls, Girls was produced at Bare Bones Theater Company in Charlotte, NC and her one act play Heathens was produced by Big Dawg Theater Company at Thalian Hall Wilmington, NC. From 1999-2004, she wrote and performed with the all female performance art troupe Brawdeville. She currently performs with the sound art troupe 910 Noise.