Marc Swan
Taking Care
It seems like a lifetime
of directing, changing sheets,
preparing uneaten food,
being a memory storage-retrieval system
for everyday things
before they say yes.
Mom helps him pack one small suitcase,
two unframed pictures,
nothing else; not the knife, gun,
stamp, coin collections;
not the books, records, tapes;
not the closet full of Goodwill-purchased
shirts, ties, polyester pants - just one
imitation alligator skin case.
Their room becomes her room;
the Heathkit stereo sells
for fifty dollars to the contractor
who puts in the air conditioning -
records thrown in;
the knife collection goes for two grand;
the coins trade for a dishwasher;
the guns go home with the son-in-law;
the books, tapes go to the trash collector
with the Goodwill clothes.
She always liked the stamps.
Page(s) 45
magazine list
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- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
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- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The