The second thing is this: to have.
We arrive and close our fists on
stone and feather
this, not that
in passion or
in casual reaching out
and pocketing.
This is our history: a line from
first picked-up twig through
painted curling lemon rind to
heaped-up things lost into drawers
still stiff with the fading
shine of our attention.
What can we know as well as
a bowl presented for our
polished gaze beyond
its temporary owner and
the painter skilled with
curve and light?
Ellen Steinbaum is the author of three poetry collections. Her work has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize and is included in Garrison Keillor’s anthology, Good Poems, American Places, The Widows’ Handbook, Cavankerry’s Waiting Room Reader II and A Mighty Room: a collection of poems written in Emily Dickinson’s bedroom. An award-winning journalist and former Boston Globe columnist, she writes a blog, “Reading and Writing and the Occasional Recipe” which can be found at her web site, ellensteinbaum.com.
