Kintsugi is the Japanese art of mending precious pottery with gold.

What's between us 
seems flexible as the webbing
between forefinger and thumb.

Seems flexible but isn’t;
what's between us 
is made of clay  

like any cup on the shelf. 
It shatters easily. Repair
becomes the task.

We glue the wounded edges
with tentative fingers.
Scar tissue is visible history

and the cup is precious to us
because 
we saved it.

In the art of kintsugia
potter repairing a broken cup
would sprinkle the resin 

with powdered gold.
Sometimes the joins 
are so exquisite

they say the potter 
may have broken the cup 
just so he could mend it.