in the back of the hardware store
past the brass hinges
there is a bin of magnets
the flat round kind
two to a card
for cabinet doors
that won't stay shut

i picked one up
turned it over
reading the nothing
printed on the back

and the other one
still in the bin
moved

barely

just leaned
the way a thing leans
when it has already
made up its mind

i never touched it
the half inch of air
it crossed
by itself
to reach the one
in my hand

nobody did this yesterday
it happened months ago
in some factory
when every grain inside them
turned once
to face a direction
it had not yet met

so by the time
they were boxed
and shelved
the turning
was already done

only the half inch
was still to come

and it came
all at once
the loud way

clack

i like that
the patience of it
all that aiming
done in the dark
long before

and then
no warning
just
the small violent —

of two things
that were never going
to land
anywhere
but here