Dresses with Pockets

 

If I write it all down, 
Can I keep it forever? 
Will unlined pages be able to 
Hold these better than myself? 
Why else would they ever 
Put pockets in the sides of dresses? 
Dried leaves crinkle inside them
I was saving them for my mom – I wanted
To make something for her. 
Some people hate the way I keep the 
Notes app on my phone. 
But it doesn’t bother me – what if 
He asks and I don’t know, or what if 
I want to ask him and it slips my mind? 
It’s not that I need to understand it all
It’s just that I want to hold it (in case).
Someone, a friend of mine, called me “knacky” once.  
He meant, because of trinkets.
They are bit kitschy – he meant, in an 
endearing way – but not decidedly so. 
My sister and I
We have these matching hat boxes 
that we keep in our closets at home. 
We used to share a Jack-and-Jill bathroom. 
My hat box won’t shut all the way anymore. 
I’m not sure what my sister has inside hers. 
I’ve never asked. 
Photos lockets and wallet pictures and small notebooks – 
These things that we carry with us. Cliches 
To assuage the longing. 
I even asked for a locket necklace

last year for Christmas. I wonder what I would

have put inside of it.

My mom got a beautiful heart locket for my sister. 

And I thought people only kept photos of loved ones 
In their wallets in movies. But no, I've seen them
(in real life). 
Recently I started carrying a miniature notebook in my purse. 
Mainly to remedy the Notes app problem. I know – too much of a 
Good thing can be very bad. (My kitschy clutter – that is why).
But what good things? Surely
Memories get some exception. 
Dried gingkos in the pockets of my dress and yes don't

we all have one or too many journals and notebooks and

little grocery list memo pads.

Remember them, won’t we?