OLD
Take the lid off the old wooden box and peer inside, what is there? What do you see? An old bullet from the Korean war, a discoloured gemstone from a broken lover’s necklace.
A curling yellow photo of lost teenage friends, now no more, one lost to drugs.
Some ancient coin from a faraway land, unreadable language.
Now put back the lid and pause for thought. If you were to have a keepsake,
what would it be?
Mmm I like this. You know what it reminds me of? When Ma, in The Grapes of Wrath, looks through her box of precious things, and has to decide what to take with her on the long journey to California. Have you ever read it? That scene is heartbreaking - they have almost nothing in terms of material possessions, but have to make these difficult choices anyway.
I do really like this - and I reckon it would make a great theme for a competition.
My keepsake? It's a toss up between the 3 sand-coloured pebbles from the beach at Mawbray where I went with the love of my life, or the collection of dried berries and conkers that I got from Taylor Park last year, during a period of depression. When we got home from the park, my darling arranged them into a smiley face :)
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nick armbrister
Fri 16th Dec 2011 17:06
hi Laura thanx for the comments i appreciate it. no ive not read Wrath, ill have to check it out. not sure what id take, maybe the love of my life who ive not yet... id defo take a pen and paper lol. did you write when depressed. i often do. ive many dark poems. some light ones...