POEM: the handmaiden

(30 July 2005)

take down a moment,

    see if it is heavy after dusting it off…

take a moment down that is packed—

    see the million ways it exists
    within the jar you have in your hands…

look now toward when you open it—

    after seeing it on the table
    on which is placed the heaviest weight…

take a moment out of a jar

    see the image turn to vapor…

make a new moment,

    see to it that it also is

                    bottled,
                            dated,
    and stored...

walk away as you will,

     see that you don't look back

  you will see it when you are
  
                    ready
                                labeled
     and scared...        
    
for there is only so much room in this pantry

        and as we go through those old jars for clues—

   to moments lost,
   
                    gone
                                wrong
                                
      and fading...
      
and as these moments are regained...

    opening jars, let the smell enter your nose,
    
            envelope
                                overwhelm
       and then dissapate...

for this is all.
                                                                   - klaus andrews