13 Ways to Look at a Button

I.
Among the leather of coats
A button
Holds it all together

II.
Alone
The only one who sees me
is a button
the eye of a rag doll.

III.
Napoleon’s Army
Lost to the Russian cold
Their tin buttons disintegrating

IV.
Resting on the dirty ground
A lost button
With a frayed thread

V.
In my pocket
I mistake a button for a coin

VI.
The only thing left to remind her of him
is a button
from his favorite dress shirt.
She cries.

VII.
Late last summer he fell in love
With her sun kissed button nose

VIII.
Answers linger beyond the door.
Locked.
The impermeable code of buttons.

IX.
On or Off
A heavy choice
Made so often by buttons

X.
O, citizens of earth
Loathing and fanaticism
The end of the world
Is just a button press away.

XI.
A small treasure
A child finds a misplaced
Button.

XII.
The wind whispers “shh.”
Somewhere
A button fails.

XIII.
It was early morning
And no one has ever sung
A song for buttons.

Buttons

I collect buttons
when I see them on the ground
separated from their worn out purses
and haggard old winter coats.
Seeing them resting lonely on the sidewalk,
hard, cold, dirty and bare,
conjures images of dangling threads,
fraying edges, burning holes and broken connections.
What was once well loved fades to loose-ends
and their broken pieces litter my path.
What once held everything together
drop hopelessly for me to find,
to cup safely in my hands.
Now that it has come undone
I collect buttons
because each reminds me
that something else,
somewhere,
is falling apart.