Synergy
my coin collection had gone astray,
when we were so abruptly emptying your house
distilling you down, you said
narrowing your existence
it was our tacit charge
unearth those buffalo and Indian profiles
deep-seated heritage
anticipating their inexorable purge
as we culled and dissected
a history
The Sound of Music VHS tape punctuated with 1980s commercials
a nutcracker collection, one comrade-in-arms added per annum
hand-embroidered bell bottoms
But the most punishing was
a prodigious library
that straight backed unyielding militia
long primed for mutiny
if not permitted a referendum for their own disposal
unwavering in a mutual fidelity fused in time
And then they materialized
Impudent silvers and coppers
exhumed
from a box of old resumes
vestigial organs of your calling
social security numbers of others proudly bolded
back when our identities didn’t need protecting
when you were more than a number
when you were more than the sum of your belongings
.
Anne Reiner is a writer and biostatistician based in NYC.
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Stone Poetry Quarterly 