COIN  COLLECTION 

Poem for Monday, December l, 2014

THE COLLECTION

Even two years later, she still gets correspondence

addressed to him. Correspondence. This like that.

Mostly about his hobby. Coin collector brochures.

Announcements of collector swap meets. His pastime.

A way to spend an afternoon back when an afternoon

needed spending. Before all the silence flooded the house.

He had old currency. Nickels worth ten dollars.

And heavy, the bags. Musical, too.

She needs to sort through them all.

That's what she should do, realize its value.

But what she is thinking of is spending it,

buying gum and soft drinks, maybe a chocolate bar.

Just get face value for mint-condition rarities.

Get them back into circulation. Circulation. The afterlife

where someone else could get them as change

and be joyful at the luck of finding his life's pleasure.

© Michael Chitwood

From Living Wages,

Tupelo, Press, 2014

North Adams, MA