Genius of oval, ovum, overlap
capable of great feats, holding back
the waterfall of too much cleavage
or in my case, too vast a high plain
of a post-mastectomy chest, thanks
to this duchess of metal modesty
protecting glamour girls and plain ones.

Eagle landing to save the day and a nylon bag
from spilling dozens of caramels in the gutter.
Savior of a million opening nights everywhere
from Broadway to small town high school
renditions of The Music Man or Rent.
Grandmother of agility in pink or blue
bent on putting the safe in safety
to diaper the speed-crawling baby.

Substitute teacher for the button or cufflink,
the safety pin fills in for all extinct connectors,
even the tiniest ones that hide pinholes in pleats
so that even the dead will look well-put together.

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Ph.D., the 2009-13 Kansas Poet Laureate is the author of twenty-four books, including The Magic Eye: A Story of Saving a Life and a Place in the Age of Anxiety, How Time Moves: New & Selected Poems; and Miriam’s Well, a novel. Founder of Transformative Language Arts, she offers writing workshops, coaching, and collaborative projects. Her poetry has been widely published, including in Poets & Writers, Negative Capability, Terrain, Half and One, Mockingheart Review, Two Rivers, The New Territory, Louisville Review, New Letters, and dozens of other journals. She has won numerous fellowships and awards and been nominated multiple times for a Pushcart Prize.