Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Collecting Echoes

This is the time of year when I start to concede that maybe 
I have too much junk many collections... 

My largest collections are
rolling pins ...
...enamel-ware
 and poetry books
...and oh, what pleasure they have added to the ordinary!

Collectors walk that fine line between pack-rat and passion😏

some day
when I die
they
will pile a wagon high
and people will come
and sort throught the conglom
-eration
of these pieces of 
love
...and the auctioneer will call
what am I bid
the pictures of
the living they did
  hidden from eyes 
as they surmise
the size of the lot
and contemplate the price
and someone says
maybe 'I could use that' 
and another replies, 
'yeah, this might be nice'

...for the hands have been stilled 
that once thrilled
with the warmth of honest toil
as they filled
dishes with dinner
(fresh-from-the-garden-spoil)
Folded forever,
the fingers 
that lingered
between pages
as they highlighted a line 
here and there
The lips have laughed 
and kissed the last
tears of tots
and teddy-bears
when the milk was spilled

...here is the apron,
oft flour-dusty
as pies were rolled and filled
Now the rolling pins are passed on
like wooden batons
to the next generation
for stories not yet told
'what am I bid'
cries the auctioneer
'going once
going twice
sold!'
("throw in an extra rolling-pin"
he tells the bid-spotter
"We've got a lot of them to get rid of
...and just for the sake of love
a poem book or two
The things people collect!"
he said)

...and if I could I'd say
'yes, it's true,
it's true
Soundless echoes of 
home-sweet-love
that once upon my
little life
I knew'

Janet Martin


..


2 comments:

  1. Wow! <3 This poem..I like 'wooden batons to the next generation..'
    Hard to believe we've reached the stage of pondering what the next generation will do with our stuff!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. <3 thank-you...and I know. It's a jolting reality-check.

    ReplyDelete

I hope you enjoyed your pause on this porch and thank-you for your visit!