Jewelry Box
by Rykki Lynn Olson
She hits the road with dusk
on his quiet conquest
over the busy thousands,
and loss was a pair of earrings
for all the special occasions,
kept in their little box
like dangling tag reminders
of all she knew
and had forgotten,
and she dreamed
of losing teeth and dignity
at the probing hands of love
before dusk’s invitation came
to take her, and she’d gone
to the cooling dark
as someone else’s loss—