Porcelain dolphin, elephant, white swan
in the curio cabinet, peaceful;
the white bell sits unrung; the heart unstrung
presidential plastic with heads unhung:
There’s an African queen of some stature,
and a tango, secretly its origins
the same; like a twisted rose with stem enraptured,
the dancers kick dust on hidden history:
There are unused glasses, unbroken plates;
the dolphin holds court with intelligent lips,
making sounds I don’t hear, evading ships
full of bobblehead men and their royal mistress:
Salt shaker, pepper shaker, drink shaker too
all to flavor the air with a dropsical dew.