Curiously
no shoes
only a dance card
from 1932
totally filled in
by only 2 beaux
who Tango'd &
Pas a Doble'd her
alternately
all night
waiting for her
to choose
one or the other
(both brothers) .
She choose the fair-haired one
(for his sense of fun)
the red-haired one
(always so moody)
never forgave her or
his brother
became a missionary
in Trinidad & Tobago
.
A lock of baby's hair
(still so perfect)
bound tightly in pink ribbon
lost after only a week
of which they would never speak
as the dried up tears
like shrivelled mummified spiders
resting now
among a trove of birthday cards
that declare the passing time
gaudier year by year.
Old love letters
written in intense violet
on almost see-through
onion thin yellow paper.
The shoes she remembers
were a violent red
chosen for the same shade
red as her lipstick.
A neat ticket
for a Venetian vaporetto
unused from
1962
with a telephone number
scribbled in scrawl
hurriedly across it.
A beautiful button
(a work of art in itself)
from a favourite cloak
left behind in a favourite pub
as England win
the World Cup
made her look
like Little Red Riding Hood
or as her hubby put it:
'A fairy tale...sex on legs! '
A ginger tom
(with one eye missing)
sleeps on top
of all
this
as if it were his
own private berth
in this ship of foolish
things
her box of things
unaware
that Virginia
is dead.
I have a box promised to me, called Scarlet's Box...and I just know that it will be filled with memories that I will treasture forever! Boxes are just beautiful things...full of the memories of lost loves...and current loves...and past joys...and present hurts. This poem is perfectly wonderfully full of memories of Virginia, and I, of course, loved it! ! Scarlett
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
It's a short novel in verse, isn't it? A long-lived story gathered in a shoebox, the same we often use to keep pictures and souvenirs... The same we often open before the Christmas. A cosy warm poem, a little bit sad. I think about a shoebox like this full of souvenirs, it could throw so much light on one's true essence and personality...