With Expression
the sheet of brass
just a small square
for a pin, maybe
and so
I saw a curve
the blade breaks
I fit another one
it breaks and
the metal glints
under the work light
reflecting
in a wall-eyed panic
opposing views of my nose
broken by the thread-thin line
I’ve so far achieved
but it’s not giving in
not yet accepting the changes. No.
I return to work
Saw blade five
does the trick
the cut-out metal falls away
I have the smile shape
open space in gleaming brass
that I was looking for
I turn the square
this way that way
return its look. I think:
what a good thing
I can make a smile shape
on my face
so much more easily
than on yours
6/27/19
Claudia McGill Writes Poetry, Did You Know That? 
Lovely poem. I like the way the organic nature of human emotional expressions is contrasted with the effort of constructing an artificial one even through the structure of the poem.
Thank you. I was struck by this thought, the laborious nature of manufacturing in materials what our faces can do so easily, in my jewelry class I took 2 summers ago.
Partly because I was so clumsy with the jewelry tools!
It’s not yet accepting the changes…that casts a wide net in my life at least. (K)