Intertwined like
elfin fingers

touching the rim
of the sky,

or the base of a ladder
extended

into a red cloud
bleeding onto

plates of jasmine
and jasper,

perhaps green gems
of turquoise or jade.

What this tells us
is the number of

revolutions in
the life cycle

of an open cusp
of ball bearings,

likened to
a soft jewel

exposed to
black light

by the originators
of redundancy.