An old Valentine's Day letter,
faded from sitting on a shelf and
growing frailer with the many unfoldings.

The best of both worlds in one night -
a limo ride to the movies
and drive-thru McDonald's for dinner.

The first 'I love you'
from the same boy as the first kiss,
both in the back of a darkened bus.

An old ring from the costume room,
put on my finger in jest
as he asked me to marry him.

All of the corsages from
all of the high school dances,
dried and hanging in my room.

A short taste for the dangerous side -
piercings and cigarettes and green hair,
worth it just to scare my mom.

A towel from a hockey game
one to wave from the stands and cheer -
I don't even remember who won.

A cordoroy bear on our 4-month,
and he was so cute and excited
I couldn't tell him I didn't like it.

One night, 2 hours, and then
a summer of vain hopes and
a Christmas of empty flirting

A pink balloon
swindled from the restaurant
when he said it was my birthday.

A little blue post-it note,
full of love and left
in my journal for me to find.

An orange oragami beetle,
100 memorized folds or more
made right in front of me.

A silly gold foil ring,
made from a candy wrapper
at 3 am in the coffeeshop.

A week's worth of fond memories,
warm arms, and smiles,
before he moved away.

The dried petals of 3 red roses
from 3 different occasions,
unexpected and wonderful.

A bar of JCPenney's chocolate,
because he thought of me
while he was buying new pants.

A 3-hour conversation on Christmas day,
from halfway across the country,
just to make sure I knew he cared.

Tomato soup and hot chocolate
to keep me warm in winter
when he couldn't be there.

One weekend, meeting my family,
fitting in without a pause -
and the whole time I was the nervous one.

A job, a prospect, a future
with just one phone call
from a loving heart.

Kleenex, pills, and ice cream
because I was sick and
because it made me smile.

Regrets innumerable,
still somehow not as bad as
all the hopes never realized.

And still a thousand good days
with few truly bad memories,
those few forgivable.

To each of them I gave a piece of my life,
and a piece of my heart, too -
may it mean as much to them as they have to me.

04/24/2003

Author's Note: This is what my creative writing teacher calls a 'collection' poem. You take a collection of things all within the same theme (like bumper stickers, or notes left in the margins of books...this one being the small things my significant others through the years have given me) and make it into a poem. Kinda a neat idea. This is what I came up with.

Posted on 04/25/2003
Copyright © 2024 Amanda J Cobb