My memory needs help.
A thread, paper scrap, ribbon, straw,
Ivory marker, tapestry bibelot, leaf pennant
Serve to mark where I stop and, then, again begin.
They offer direction from past to future.
Mark progress and set boundaries
Each guards the previous and points to surprises,
Work to seesaw me between recollections and expectations.
All unpaid, doing unthanked service,
Readily move aside when the reading begins,
Then return to duty as words and sleep conspire to tire.
Bookmarks are memory soothers, silent companions,
Reliable invisible servants
Working equally well among all pages—
The boring and the charming
The well-loved and the unfashionable
All serve as breathers, time-stoppers,
Reminders of the old and the coming.
Ready to signpost the way to delights.
About the Poet
George A. Renn, III is a former college instructor, travelled the seven seas, and wrote and illustrated whimsical stories for the young of imagination. He worked on a medieval archeological dig, painted slum schools in Brazil, Sierra Leone and Haiti, made bricks in Egypt and repaired wheelchairs in Lebanon. He sometimes finds delight in repairing old cars and bicycles, occasionally successfully.
For the first time in nearly five years, Vita Brevis is closed for submission. Read the full story here.
Vita Brevis Press. 