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I Imagine

Submitted by Michael Anthony on Thu, 2023-08-24 10:07

In her late-eighties, it was time.
Time to be done with beautiful things
she’d gathered over a lifetime.

It’s been easier to let them go
than she thought it might be.
All the lovely talismans
against the fading of memories.

I imagine conversations she’s had, explaining to these objects
why she’s cutting the delicate binds that kept them there
all these years, on dusty shelves and windowsills.

I imagine the objects understand this melancholy time,
and why she is helping the keepsakes find new homes
where they will share new stories from different shelves.

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Comments

Lavender

Thu, 2023-08-24 14:58

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Hello, Michael,
So very relatable. At 66, I'm much younger than your late-eighties subject, but I've already started gifting some personal items along to their next home. I just get a strong sense of where the items will find happiness and appreciation. I love your language and the imaginative conversations and understandings between the subject and her belongings. A formal ritual, almost. A lifetime of keepsakes deserve more than to be forgotten.
Thank you!
L

Geezer

Fri, 2023-08-25 00:04

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having reached seventy-five years of age; thinking about what will happen to my keepsakes,
the motorcycle trophies, and poetry awards, etc.
I haven't yet spoken to any of them directly, but... I sense the time approaching.

It seems more than likely, that it is about we, us as a species, spreading the seed.
Not just our genetics, but what else we are. So many of us, have talents unpercived.
Only one word out of all this poignant, somber letter, bothers me just so faintly.
It is: [ the ] instead of [these] in the line, "and why she is helping [the] these keepsakes...

What a beautiful story and well done. ~ Geez.
.

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