Fargo, North Dakota
In a small living space,
putting envelopes and
necessary mail in an old
white three drawer bureau
- mail with socks, jockeys
- there's also an unused
electric toothbrush - the
disparate moments of these
things, the anything goes,
has me seeing Aunt Nellie's
drawer in a poor house in
Nova Scotia - things were
just here and there, and
when asked to go find some-
thing for her - and she often
asked - one would see these
assortment that had no high
point except for the fact
of differences. What to
say when mostly the socks
and envelopes and jockeys
invoke a sea of sight - life
there then - Nellie gone on
who knows where - she dis-
appeared last November
just before her birthday.
- Michael Burkard
Copyright © 2005 Michael Burkard. All rights reserved
from The Laurel Review