Collecting Treasure & Dust

Collecting Treasure & Dust

Leslie Newton

I sit somewhere in the middle.

Every time the plate passes by,
I burrow my two pennies beneath
the proud bills of others in this row–
my arm recognizes the motion,
my fingers find the coins’ ridges familiar,

and I let go.

I release the ballrooms they could fill,
turn my ear from the murmurs in lowly-lit halls–
chandeliers and conversations, ornaments and 
approving nods, gazes of praise
as I stride by, warm arms in the night–
I ignore the tug on my sleeve for more. 

Is there some jar on some shelf

that keeps every dream deferred, shriveled
and screaming, pounding at the glass 
to be exchanged for reality but ever only a plunk
at the bottom of a collection plate.

And I let go.

---

Leslie Newton
Poet & Educator

Leslie has poetry published in Time of Singing and Shot Glass Journal. She also runs a writing studio at a community college in Kansas City. Her dog thinks that she is amazing.

 Photography by Ludwig Favre