on threats and tangents (jan bottiglieri)

And it would deflect bullets.
And it would shimmer like the scales
of a rainbow fish leaping up.
Each button would be the subject
of an historical treatise
written
after years of torturous research.

One from a doll's dress, no, her eye.
One from the shoulder of a shroud –
but no, it is not what you think.
One button would depict the life
of an obscure and lesser saint,
scrimshawed
on the bone of a famous whale.

This is not a thing one would ride
roughshod over. Not a coarse thing
discussed over back fences.
Believe me, thousands of the faithful
hoi-polloi would have gathered here,
fevered,
had I remembered to alert

the proper authorities. True,
the hands that sewed each button on
first rocked kings in their crude cradles.
True, it can predict the weather
but it's not very accurate.
Stricken
with fear, its enemies recoil.

And once again, I mention here
that it can deflect bullets.
Or would, of course. I should say would.
If such a thing, but. . .well. You know.
Just be advised that you have been
advised.
You all might as well drop those guns.

- "One Could Have a Cape Made Entirely of Buttons," by Jan Bottiglieri