Nothing stays at rest

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molecules of a crystal—table salt

snowflakes, diamonds, quartz—repeat

their patterns in tight formation

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like a platoon at inspection

faces still as glass but young

and like glass, not organized

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a state between two states

neither liquid nor solid

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only light slips through the empty spaces

glass shows true or changes light’s direction

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with its imperfect curve

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silica becomes glass by force

forces moving across a desert feel

heat’s random motion of molecules

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when the bonds break rank, silica discards

its crystalline structure and matter transforms

bodies burn, glass melts

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the gather of glass burns its own light

until it cools, hardens

never returns to its former state.

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Sherry Rind is the author of four collections of poetry and editor of two books about Airedale terriers. She has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Anhinga Press, Artist Trust, Seattle Arts Commission, and King County Arts Commission. She teaches at Lake Washington Institute of Technology.