"Jars"

A vessel

Of glass molded or cut

makes shapes out of water

or tomato sauce or jelly before it hardens and keeps

what shape it takes in the freezer

Or pickles

bumping together in emerald juice and glass walls

A rainbow in the pantry of purples, reds,

greens and browns, there are so many colors

for glass

Molded or cut with seams or edges

etched out in measuring marks and names and sizes,

Ball, Mason, Quart, One Cup, Two Cups, Three...

With a *clink* and grind-snap pwok and now you have

tomato sauce or jelly hardened in the freezer

Or pickles

Antique foods with sauces and brines,

skinless pears in sugary juice, a yellow ambrosia

that melts on your tongue or parts in your teeth,

sauerkraut salty and vinegar-sweet,

base of spaghetti, sans noodles and meat

Or just pickles

crunching with savory emerald green

And all these things would have turned and molded and rotted away

were it not for this glass

Molded or cut,

standing empty, rinsed sparkling clean

Edges catch light and distort what's behind,

little rainbows in edges etched out into measuring marks and names,

and now you've got something to drink your pink lemonade from.