other animals

he heard a tink and thought of his wish and
where his hand didn’t want to go
and went there and there it was a
perfect miniature aureate
boulder so thanks were given and soon a

system—spray bottles, a special
strainer, fresh hand towels, a glass
container for storage and sometimes the
irregular borders brought blood

when they slit but he learned to love
fingers in filth for those gleaming nuggets
and later he’d have such elaborate

but fundamental stuff made most of which
was melted down in the end or, after