Prompt: a poem based on a “walking archive” – the physical instantiation of your walk.
A button from the long, red pea coat
I cherished back in college
Lives in a jar of miscellany
Forgotten and unacknowledged
It’s joined by a single pearl earring
Some paperclips and spare change
Sealed in a museum of memory
Eclectic and rather strange
Like the small green smiling-face button
With shamrocks instead of eyes
Keys to a lockbox long since mislaid
Which should come as no surprise
Plus that token for a free bagel
In a place where I don’t dwell
But my favorite of these knick-knacks
Is a broken piece of shell
I really don’t know from whence it came
Into my odd collection
Its asymmetry and unique shape
Have captured my affection
The edges are smooth from years of touch
Pensive and preoccupied fingers
I’m surprised to notice the texture
Though now in hue, still lingers
I wonder how such a souvenir
Once treasured, lost its favor
If the mementos of my today
Will also deplete their savor
Perhaps that’s the subconscious fiction
I lead myself to believe
Then I’ll tuck it away for safekeeping
Lest I ever have need to retrieve