in the antique shop
there are the usual items
a child’s wooden desk
 |
| Joanne after poetry session on October 9, 2024, Barton VT Public Library |
with a bench seat
attached to the front
from a one room school house
part of a set, a row
no longer needed
broken up after the town
built a brick graded school
with metal chairs
still in use
and over here a set of
1960’s dishware: cups, saucers
cake and dinner plates
 |
| Joanne outside another shop, Victoria, Prince Edward Island, 2022 |
salad and soup bowls, maybe
that unmistakable white interior
and exterior unforgettable colors
the names of no one knows
but you know them when you see them.
but here on this shelf
a postcard – from somewhere
in New York, a scene, wooded
lake, a winding road
& on the other side a note:
to my dear Franny, we had
such a good time in the country
looking forward to seeing you soon
come for tea! much love,
with a faded signature
the date: 8 April 1921
who were they
and how did the card
come to be here
in a box from an estate sale?
the buyer took the whole lot
maybe she found the card
inside a book – meant to
mark a page
a memory to keep
to look at while the reader
read on...
what meaning might it have
for someone here
this lazy sunny Saturday
in Brandon Vermont –
who might buy it now –
and what to do with it –
a frame for the image –
or the note –
a bit of nostalgia – a glimpse
at the past of someone
who lived, loved, and is
now gone –
they say
we live on
in the memories
of those whose lives
we touch
maybe also in those
who never knew us personally
but only through a card
they now hold
in their hand.
– JMG, 9 ottobre 2024
