A Poem about Broken Pottery

This poem makes me smile. The back story is this: I went home (to Amman, Jordan) for Christmas, and brought an Arabic coffee set back for my roommate. It consisted of a coffee pot and four small cups, all made out of Palestinian pottery. Unfortunately, one of the cups met an untimely demise at the hands of a misplaced orange. Which was very sad. But the result is this poem, written by one of my good friends. Enjoy :).

settlement
by Megan Buff

the little palestinian

cup

settles in

on the kitchen counter.

tiny blue & white tiles

reflecting life

in all its glory

of fragmented togetherness.

out of place, an orange

rests

atop the cup,

also settling in.

orange from california

trumping

arab blue.

complementary colours?

suddenly the orange is

plucked up

for breakfast.

still attached.

the cup, too, flies

fighting

union with fruit

and wins at last.

the orange lets go,

drops

the cup

squarely on harsh ground.

it shatters loudly --

blue &

white scattered

to all corners of the room.

beauty is fragmented

& the orange

falls. splits.

orange blood with blue pieces.

mingled in brokenness.