To the Basement and Back

Looking for something in the basement this morning
I noticed once state-of-the-art equipment I’ll never use again,
which reminded me
of other phantoms that haunt my nether world,
paint that no longer adorns our walls,
gadgets whose use I no longer know,
the too-warm sheepskin coat I never wear,
still-good suitcases
supplanted by newer ones that won my favor,
books I’ll almost certainly never read again, nor lend,
a book I was going to return but never did
which reminded me in turn
of friends I meant to call,
but weeks turned into months
and months into years,
and I came back upstairs
bearing the baggage of those years.
(13 April 2002)

The poems are in topical series, the first and current series being “Memories”.