following her collections all over the house
- dishes, spoons, dolls, crosses...
scanning walls, shelves, in hutches, drawers
- kitchen utensils, metal boxes, iron toys, punch bowls...
coming upon smaller things kept in glass bottles and jars
- buttons, thimbles, game pieces, marbles, shells, sea glass...
she just couldn’t resist these finds
every item, once someone else’s treasure
delighted her, offered purpose
each token, still full of meaning,
as a value found in others
altogether they are unsettling -
a periodic table’s gas, solid, liquid
all the unknown elements
of what she might have been
had there been time enough
I inhabit
the tenor of her life
as posterity
Author notes
From my mother; I feel like I'm living in an antique store
Prompt => favorite things: use all or only one of the prompts => agates, glass bottles, Grandma's ring
I think she was a magpie, her name was Maggie!
A contest entry
- PIF Contest /Word Prompt by Rowan.
800 points, ended August 18, 2008, 13 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
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lol.
I loved the last two stanzas. Actually, I liked the feel of this whole piece. Sounds like my house. I don't know why I keep the things I do, I have more junk drawers than a person has a right to, I think, but I find it hard to let things go. lol.
Magpie indeed.
Thanks so much for entering this.
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