is drying after being washed
and this is what it carries:
*Right Side Pocket
Leather wallet, coin pocket taped
from my husband before he left
3 keys attached with wide red ribbon
from a Christmas wreath
A quilting piece from a favorite aunt
who read to me
One of John Galsworthy’s books
*Middle Pocket
5 empty Kroger shopping bags
to use at Sav a Lot
Yellow napkins from Wendy’s
to use anywhere
White napkins from McDonald’s
*Middle Zipper Pocket
Small plastic container with lid
for rescuing small things
Several covered toothpicks
to use lunching out
A rubber band from somewhere
in case I need it
A safety pin (closed)
*Left Pocket
Plastic baby carrot bag
to carry daily pills
Orange case for sunglasses
for driving
Retractable black pen
to capture words
Coupons from Wendy’s
for $1 off combo meals
Small Tupperware party case
for Merle Norman face cream
Flash drive the shape of lipstick
in case my house burns
Notes from Trauma and Recovery
by Judith Herman, M.D.
Used copy paper cut in half
___
Carol Smallwood co-edited (Molly Peacock, foreword) Women on Poetry: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing by Successful Women Poets (McFarland, 2012); Compartments: Poems on Nature, Femininity and Other Realms (Anaphora Literary Press, 2011) was nominated for the Pushcart. Women Writing on Family: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing, (Key Publishing House, 2012) is her most recent book. Her sixth anthology for the American Library Association, Bringing Arts into the Library, is forthcoming. Some magazine credits include: The Writer’s Chronicle, English Journal.