"Here's an example of fine pottery,"
I said to that distracted friend of mine.
"See how the leaves and flowers in her design
Beautif'ly fill the platter's symmetry!"

My friend came closer, stooped, and bent his head,
And stared intently at the irises
As if they were newfound papyruses.
"Nothing can fill a symmetry!", he said.

"But I agree: the placement in the oval
Is pleasing and artistic and well-done.
Let's ask if we can view it in the sun.
Ah, yes, it glows! I give it my approval.

"The background has been delicately carved,
Before the clay has dried and then been fired.
The potter has been happily inspired!
Shall we talk to her now? Or are you starved?"

"Let's put a hold on it, my friend," I said, "before
It's taken by some other phony connoisseur!"

Copyright (2008) by Arnold Cantor.
All rights reserved.

[Started on July 18, 2008, at my daughter Molly's pottery booth at the Guilford Craft Fair on the Town Green of Guilford, CT; mostly completed the next day at home in Bloomfield, CT; and given some finishing touches the day after. The poem differs from the usual sonnet in three ways: the addition of an extra quatrain; the use of a different rhyme scheme in the quatrains: a b b a rather than a b a b; and the use of iambic hexameter in the couplet instead of the usual iambic pentameter.]