“Handpicked Heirlooms”
I take keepsakes
Retouch and arrange tarnished
Precious memorabilia
A little silver bell
Turned brown well before I learned
A sterling finish doesn’t stay if it sits
Unused
A Goodacre Dollar
‘Presentation’ piece
Sakakawea and Jean Baptiste
Reverse, obverse dated
Wash-worn faces faded like varnished brass
Engraved in gold
A fleuron shining on
A broach
Saved for teatime all June’s life
A thimble which fits my pinky finger
Collected tokens tucked in the sky
Blue-velvet drawstring bag
Now steeping in the bright
Black-spotted kettle
I’ll never use to pour or brew
On account of how the metal smells
Still of Marlboro Reds
Even filled to the brim with white
Sage potpourri ~
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/ n o t a r e
Link to first #prose - https://theprose.com/post/422315/handpicked-heirlooms
#poetry #freeverse #nonfiction
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@bykaileyann