What’s Left Behind
By Lynn D. Gilbert
Lately I have felt the world
recede from me
and am inclined to start letting go:
possessions, goals,
ambitions. I foresee that
nothing will come out even,
and much will go to waste.
Bales of knitting yarn.
Photos of people whose names
will not be known to my heirs.
After the estate sale
I remember seeing
set out at the curb in the rain
my father’s hand-crafted record cabinet
upended in a box of other discards,
its finish definitively ruined
after so much staining and polishing,
so much sanding and cherishing.
Lynn D. Gilbert's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Appalachian Review, Arboreal, Blue Unicorn (Pushcart nomination), Consequence, Light, The MacGuffin, Ponder Review (Pushcart nomination), and elsewhere. Her poetry volume has been a finalist in the Gerald Cable and Off the Grid Press book contests. A founding editor of Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, she lives in an Austin suburb and reviews poetry submissions for Third Wednesday journal. She holds degrees from Stanford (AB, English), Berkeley (MA, English), and University of Texas at Austin (MEd, vocational rehabilitation counseling).