pocket excavation

I've just found treasure in my pockets.

Among the gum wrappers
and loose change
there are
scraps and crumbs
of my life --

A ticket to a high school concert,
when the thought crossed my mind
for a few seconds
that maybe there were
moments
of
goodness
in high school,

A program from a play I saw
a few days after my my first birthday
away from home
when I realized that I had
found
a
second
home
and a second family,

Momentos from a talent show,
a madrigals concert,
there's a fortune cookie fortune that says,
"You have more to say than you think,"
with the English to Chinese pronunciation
of "They are fine,"
on the back,

And there are buttons
that I've been meaning to sew
on for 3 years now.

They've been here for three whole years,
Traveled to exotic locales in rain, snow, and sunshine.
And I
Unaware
Have taken them along as stowaways
Unnoticed passengers on my journeys.


My pockets are wide and deep, and
I put things in here,
Forgetting that I sometimes forget about them
For a long time

But I always remember
Clean them out.
Eventually.

I wonder what I'll find in there
This time next year.