NaPoWriMo #14

Today's prompt at Poetry Thursday is "pearl". I thought about a number of possibilities for the word, but hadn't decided on which to use. In fact, I thought I was going to write something about the possibilities I came up with, and then write a different poem instead. Until I realised that my list of possibilites made a sort of prose poem in itself:

This is the poem I am not writing. This poem contains a large family of sisters with names like Pearl., Ruby, Opal and Garnet. Each sister wears a brooch that matches her name. This poem references a famous painting by Vermeer. This poem wakes early in the morning. It picks roses in the garden where dew sits like strings of pearls on spiderwebs. The sisters have flaming red hair and many suitors. This poem references a well-known story about Cleopatra. Scientists cast doubt on the story about the pearl. They say it would have taken many hours to dissolve in the wine glass. This poem strolls in the garden in the afternoon when clouds light up like mother of pearl in the pale sky. The eldest sister dresses in an ivory satin ballgown and places a string of pearls around her neck. Each pearl contains the reflection of the crowds of whirling dancers, the gallery of paintings on the wall, the crystal chandeliers. Each pearl contains a small world, like this poem.