The Collection
Even two years later, she still gets correspondence
addressed to him. Correspondence. This like that.
Mostly about his hobby. Coin collector brochures.
Announcements of collector swap meets. His pastime.
A way to spend an afternoon back when an afternoon
needed spending. Before all the silence flooded the house.
He had old currency. Nickels worth ten dollars.
And heavy, the bags. Musical, too.
She needs to sort through them all.
That's what she should do, realize its value.
But what she is thinking of is spending it,
buying gum and soft drinks, maybe a chocolate bar.
Just get face value for mint-condition rarities.
Get them back into circulation. Circulation. The afterlife
where someone else could get them as change
and be joyful at the luck of finding his life's pleasure.
Copyright Credit: Michael Chitwood, "The Collection" from Living Wages. Copyright © 2014 by Michael Chitwood. Reprinted by permission of Tupelo Press.
Source: Living Wages (Tupelo Press, 2014)