Poem: "A Treasure in the Attic"

Mama - Joanne Parrish

A Treasure in the Attic

by CJ Heck

There's magic in an attic
when you're patient enough
to wade through
the spiderwebs and dust
to discover it.

I found a picture of Mama there
in an old camel back trunk
crowded with forgotten relatives
pressed in albums,
between dried rose bouquets,
and size six shoe boxes
with old love letters
bound in faded ribbon.

How I wish
I had known her then --
young and pretty,
living in a world
filled with Daddy,
before children and cancer.

The photo was crackled,
its corners dog-eared,
but there she was.

A tied bandana
struggled to hold
the whispy curls
reaching for their freedom
in an ocean breeze,
pants rolled up mid-calf,
their cuffs barely
skimming the water,
and she looked so happy

and from a trunk in the attic
I unearthed a treasure,
a love that had shaped me
throughout my life.

How terribly I miss her.


[from the book, "Anatomy of a Poet"]

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"A writer soon learns that easy to read is hard to write." ~CJ Heck