Remnants
the colorful globe with cheerful polka dots
that used to grace the skyline above the coin laundry
must have come down years ago now
leaving only a slender stalk
to catch the sun
setting
I’ll be honest
searching for that globe
was one reason I chose to walk
this stretch of road
maybe I should
have looked around
behind the laundromat
for any shattered remnants
of this whole, former self
or maybe I didn’t need
to find anything in particular
outside of myself, walking
carrying within myself
sufficient wholeness
to atone for any
shattering of
an external whole
it meant something to me
more than just an attractive bauble
as though I vested something of myself in it
like the fragment of soul a child hides for safe keeping
when the world is not safe enough for the tenderer parts to remain
