National Poetry Month 7 of 30: Stories Rest Inside

Stories Rest Inside

In our basements,
in boxes,
tucked in drawers,
live memories.

the stringless violin
in its broken case,
the metal thimbles
wrapped carefully,
ticket stubs
from evenings faded.

objects kept
not because of need,
items saved
for their story.

the infant hat
will not be worn again,
the slide projector
never played,
the quilt too fragile
now rests
on a high shelf.

the stories
rest deep inside,
almost forgotten,
until stumbled upon
in an accidental discovery,
a moment of memory,
held again
for a quick second
in our heart.

© Cathy L. Mere 2014



April is National Poetry Month.  Again this year, inspired by Mary Lee Hahn, I'm joining other poetry bloggers (view links in sidebar) taking the challenge to share poetry each day during the month of April.  For thirty days my hope is to write a new poem each day.  The first two years I took this challenge I wrote any poem that found me.  This year, however, I've decided to try to write a poem about an object each day.  If you've read Billy Collins' poem, The Lanyard, you may have noticed the way he took an object to tell a much more meaningful story of his relationship with his mother.  My hope is to find the deeper significance in the things around me.  

During the first week of the challenge, I found myself writing about objects of memory.  We all keep things around our homes that are kept strictly because they hold a story.  They remind us of someone or something or some time we don't want to forget.  I've tried to capture a few of those stories here in poems.  In the next week, I'm hoping to focus on objects I just can't live without.  Hmmmm, I wonder what I'll discover. 

Take a moment to check out the links in the sidebar for other great poetry stops.