What Have I Got In My Pocket?

Paper and pen for making notes
of people, thoughts and random quotes:
things seen and heard around the town;
a conker, smooth, mahogany brown,
picked up while walking in the park,
now lying snugly in the dark
beside a card with a friend's address on
and teaching notes for my next lesson,
Swiss army knife, a mobile phone -
for breakdowns when I'm on my own -
a hanky edged with handmade lace,
no glasses, just an empty case,
a wooden keyfob and bunch of keys,
a hole, through which slip memories.

Gwyneth Box

This poem was first published in the Diss Writers' Anthology 2000