All these items showing off their time:
Hot
Wheels cars, action figures, Lego everything;
Postum
general beverages, oil cans, jars of screws.
They
seem to say, “Remember this year, that year,
those
years when we were young too?”
Cigar
boxes, decorative bricks, cowboy hats;
Metal
calendars and water pumps all remind us
of
some other date, some other time.
That
day as a kid when you first used a
hand
pump to drink cold water on a sizzling day.
Riding
bikes to a town next door and stopping
for
a pop or candy at the venerable gas station.
Figurines
and steins and tea sets speak of
happy
finds and happier times, patina of
colors
reflecting memory glimmers in
our
contemplative minds. Years blend together, like
that
cat wedged in next to the bird, cup and decanter,
all
mixing together in our axons and dendrites,
mental casserole signaling nostalgia from the past.
Mannequins
and uniforms, toys and VHS tapes
gather
stares and dust, next to a large bin of old tools.
Trowels
and gas pump nozzles nuzzle our nostalgia.
Lanterns
and bottles and binoculars each do their thing
with
reflected fluorescent rays, like they used to with the
sun
or the moon, back in our more pristine incarnations.
Now
some of us accrete at the local flea market,
more
mobile versions of what sits on the shelves;
Both
pass on memories, images and greetings galore…
One
day closer, one day more.
