Poem: Safekeeping

Safekeeping

Two fountain pens,

a six-inch rule, a pair of compasses, erasers,

tools for studies, benches, classes,

libraries and meeting halls.

Longhand days.

Golden Saint Christopher, long since demoted,

obverse inscription: Ora pro Nobis.

The Latin traditional, abandoned, still quoted in farewell.

Family keepsake.

From their Christmas tree in ’63,

brittle, greyed,

its magic veiled in age

her lucky little pine cone.

Stones from Savoy, a greenstone tiki, a raffle ticket

from Indooroopilly. One Singapore coin.

Safe journeys.

A scallop shell, a tarnished key,

two copper collar bells for cats,

a flash drive on a heart-shaped fob.

Love stories.

Under old tax returns, Final Demands,

her lifetime safe in your soft blue leather,

dear Pencil Case of Curiosities.

Adelaide’s Michele Slatter is a retired Law academic who lived and worked in the UK and New Zealand before settling in South Australia. She is a member of several active writers’ groups, and reads regularly at Friendly Street Poets.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.