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VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW
Contemporary Poetry and Poetics



 
 

~CATHERINE TUFARIELLO~



SMALL GIRL IN A GIFT SHOP


 

The nested boxes fascinate her most,
Each with an elephant carved on its curved lid.
She stacks them in a teetering pyramid
A time or two, but soon becomes engrossed
In putting the scattered pieces as they were:
A puzzle whose solution seems to mean
Not everything that matters can be seen.

Her mother calls, and like a conjuror
She turns and rises, flourishing with pleasure
The finished puzzle, cunningly compact,
In whose dark center, shapely as a fact,
There might or might not lie some tiny treasure.


 

© by Catherine Tufariello
 



 
 

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